LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

Presented  by 


COMPLIMENTS    OF 

THE    AUTHOR 


KINDLY   ACKNOWLEDGE  j 

I 


CAMPBELL.  N.  Y. 


-«■  M-^ll- 


.••b 


THE  DIVINE  LIFE: 

ITS  DEVELOPMENT  AND 

ACTIVITIES 


BY  ALBERT  L.  GRIDLEY. 

Author  of  Organic  Evolution,  Suborganic  Evolution,  Jesus 
Only,  The  First  Chapter  of  Genesis  as  the  Rock  Foundation  for 
Science  and  Religion,  Demonstration  of  Kepler's  Third  Law  and 
the  Effect  of  Ellipticity  of  Planetary  Orbits  upon  the  operation  of 
that  Law,  etc.,  etc. 

"Whereby  are  given  unto  us  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises  that  by  these  ye  might  be  partakers  of  the  divine  nature." 
(II  Peter  1 :4.) 

"The  question  may  arise  if  the  Divine  Life  is  as  above,  in  what 
does  it  differ  from  Christ's  life?  In  this,  there  was  no  human  pa- 
ternity in  Christ's  life.  The  God  life  principle  united  directly 
with  the  ovum  in  Mary's  womb  and  developed  the  God  man,  God 
in  the  flesh." 


In  the  ovum  of  the  female  there  is  life,  its  own  kind  of  life, 
but  with  no  power  of  development.  When  united  with  the  male 
life  principle  there  may  be  power  to  develop  along  the  lines  of 
human  life.  But  this  human  life  has  no  power  to  develop  along 
the  lines  of  Godlike  life.  But  when  God  unites  his  own  life  prin- 
ciple to  the  human,  as  when  He  "breathed  into  Adam  the  breath 
of  life,  and  he  became  a  living  soul,"  then,  and  not  until  then,  is 
there  power  to  develop  Godward.  The  process  of  this  union  is 
called  regeneration,  the  resultant  is  the  Divine  Life,  as  the  term 
is  generally  used  in  the  following  pages. 


COPYRIGHT  £920  BY  ALBERT  L.  GRIDLEY 


All  Rights  Reserved     - 


THE  COURIER  PRESS, 
Bath,  New  York. 


IN  MEMORIAM 

My  loving,  faithful  wife 

CLARA  E.  BAILEY  GRIDLEY 

1853—1916 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

WH  EN  God  breathed  into  Adam  the  breath  of  life"  and 
he  became  a  living  soul,  he  imparted  to  Adam  of 
his  own  life,  eternal  life.  Adam  then  became  pos- 
sessed of  the  kind,  the  quality  of  the  life  of  God. 
Eternal,  not  simply  as  to  duration,  but  the  kind  of 
life  that  would  produce  Godlike  activities.  Adam  possessed  the 
human,  the  immortal,  life  before;  but  after  God  imparted  to  him 
of  his  own  life,  then  he  was  a  child  of  God  in  a  new,  a  real  and 
true  sense. 

But  God  warned  him  concerning  the  forbidden  fruit,  "In  the 
day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die,"  he  was  speaking  of 
that  principle  of  eternal  life  that  he  had  just  imparted  to  him. 
When  Adam  disobeyed,  that  life  went  out,  became  extinct,  as  God 
said  that  it  would.  That  was  death  in  the  supreme  sense.  The 
separation  of  the  immortal  part  of  man  from  the  material,  physi- 
cal, part  is  called  death  by  way  of  accommodation,  as  there  is  no 
better  term  to  apply.  But  there  is  no  extinction  of  the  real  life 
principle. 

Adam  knew  nothing  of  a  physical  death.  But  when  he  dis- 
obeyed God,  life  in  the  absolute,  the  supreme  sense,  became  ex- 
tinct. Thus  as  far  as  that  absolute,  supreme  life  was  concerned, 
Adam  died  as  God  said  that  he  would.  That  constituted  Adam's 
fall.  But  no  created  being  can  impart  to  its  offspring  a  kind  of 
life  that  itself  does  not  possess.  So  after  Adam  lost  that  life  he 
could  not  impart  it  to  his  descendants.  So  his  fall  constitutes 
"The  Fall  of  Man." 

No  human  being,  then,  could  possess  that  life  without  a  direct 
impartation  from  God.  Christ  came  to  make  provision  for  such 
an  impartation  of  the  Divine  Life  to  every  one  who  would  ac- 
cept it  by  believing  on  Jesus  and  accepting  him  as  Lord.  That 
was  Christ's  supreme  mission  to  the  earth.  When  men  accept 
Christ  in  this  way  they  become  the  "Children  of  God."  So  that 
"As  in  Adam  all  died,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive,"  or 
may  be  made  "alive"  in  the  same  sense  as  that  in  which  Adam 
"became  a  living  soul." 


The  Argument 

By  receiving  Christ  we  become  partakers  of  the  Godlife,  the 
Divine  life  that  Adam  lost  by  his  transgression. 

But  that  life  is  not  imparted,  at  first,  in  all  of  its  fullness. 
It  must  be  developed  by  the  means,  the  agencies  that  God  sup- 
plies, as  parents  provide  the  means  for  the  growth  of  their  chil- 
dren, so  that  they  may  become  strong  Godlike  characters. 

To  promote  this  development,  activity  is  necessary  as  in  the 
case  of  growing  children. 

But  further,  these  activities  must  be  the  means  of  accom- 
plishment. This  achievement  is  reached  in  its  highest  measure, 
when,  as  members  of  Christ's  great,  universal  Church,  we  "are 
members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh  and  of  his  bones." 

To  reach  this  final  conclusion  a  somewhat  extended  exam- 
ination has  been  entered  into  concerning  "The  Second  Coming" 
of  Christ,  his  resurrection  body  and  our  own. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

/     Some  minor  purposes  Christ  accomplished 

by  His  coming 11 

//     The  supreme    purpose     for  whicJi    Christ 

came  into  the  world 18 

///     The    mystery    of    how    one    life    can    be 

united  with  another 23 

IV     An  illustration  of  the  fact 29 

V     The  path  of  rectitude  lies  betzveen  extremes  33 

VI  Growth  in  Grace 43 

VII  The  new  motive  in  the  Divine  Life 54 

VIII     How  this  New  Life  is  to  be  obtained 63 

IX    A  means  of  developing  that  Life 72 

X    As  an  apparent  exception  of  the  rule  that  the 
Decalogue  is  but  the  expression  of  princi- 
ples, fundamental  and  eternal,   one  com- 
mandment deserves  special  consideration       84 
XI    Some  thoughts  on  the  Second  Coming  of 

Christ  94 

XII     The  Second  Coming — Continued 100 

XIII  The  Resurrection 109 

XIV  The  Church,  the  body  of  Christ 118 


THE  DIVINE  LIFE: 

ITS  DEVELOPMENT  AND 

ACTIVITIES 


CHAPTER  I 

Some  minor  purposes  Christ  Accomplished  by  His 

Coming. 

Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will,  O  God."    (Heb.  10:9.) 

THERE  is  one  great,  infinitely  great,  event  in  the 
world's  history,  one  towards  which  all  preced- 
ing history  points  forward  and  from  which  all 
subsequent  events   are  dated — the   coming    of 
Jesus  Christ  into  the  world.     For  what  purpose  did  he 
come  ?    There  must  have  been  a  necessity  great  enough  to 
warrant,  to  require,  such  an  event. 

In  answering  'this  question  we  may  first  consider 
some  subsidiary,  collateral,  purpose  which  he  did  accom- 
plish. 

It  is  said  that  he  came  to  teach.  He  was  a  teacher, 
a  Master  teacher.  "Never  man  spake  like  this  man,"  was 
the  amazing  reply  of  those  who  were  sent  to  entangle  him 
in  his  talk.  But  one  amazing  fact  is  that  he  never  uttered 
one  new  truth.  Not  one  truth  did  he  ever  speak  that  was 
not  the  common  property  of  mankind  as  recorded  in  the 
Bible,  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  as  we  have  them 
now,  and  that  they  then  had.  But  the  surprising  thing 
was  his  mastery  of  those  truths,  and  his  speaking  them  as 
if  they  were  his  own  original  utterances.  In  fact  they 
were.  They  were  truths  that  he  had  caused  to  be  record- 
ed centuries  before  in  their  scriptures.  It  is  true  that  he 
said,  "A  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you."  But  it  was 
only  the  example  of  love  that  he  was  giving  that  was 
new.  Observe,  he  says,  "As  I  have  loved  you."  They 
were  familiar  with  the  law  of  love.  When  a  certain  law- 
yer stood  up  and  tempted  him,  saying,  "Master,  what 
shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life  ?"    Jesus  asked  him  what 


12  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

was  written  in  the  law.  The  lawyer  answered  by  quoting 
from  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  "Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul  and 
with  all  thy  strength  and  with  all  thy  mind ;  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself."  Jesus  said,  *'Thou  hast  answered 
right,  this  do  and  thou  shalt  live."  They  were  familiar 
with  the  law  but  the  new  exemplification  of  it  was  new 
to  the  world. 

Again,  his  example  is  spoken  of  as  the  great  pur- 
pose that  he  came  to  serve.  It  is  true  that  he  set  a  per- 
fect example.  His  life  must  have  been  sinless,  or  by  his 
death  he  could  have  atoned  for  no  sins  but  his  own.  But 
in  many  particulars  his  example  should  not  or  cannot  be 
followed  by  us.  He  was  infinite  in  wisdom,  in  heart  dis- 
cerning, in  power.  He  could  condemn  hypocrisy,  Phar- 
isaism and  other  sins  in  the  concrete ;  but  we  cannot,  for 
we  do  not  know  the  hearts  of  men  as  he  knew  them.  He 
could  forgive  sins.  We  cannot,  we  have  not  the  right.  He 
wrought  miracles,  even  to  raising  the  dead.  We  cannot, 
we  have  not  the  power.  The  world  had  better  examples 
of  righteous  living  then  than  they  had  ever  followed. 

There  was  Enoch,  who  walked  with  God  "And  was 
not  for  God  took  him."  There  was  Noah  and  his  family. 
There  was  Abraham,  "The  friend  of  God."  There  was 
Isaac,  who  was  a  type  of  Christ  in  his  willingness  to  be 
offered  up  as  a  sacrifice  in  obedience  to  his  father.  There 
was  Daniel  against  whom  no  fault  is  recorded  and  whose 
righteousness  was  manifested  by  the  expressed  conscious- 
ness of  his  sinfulness  as  he  says,  "And  while  I  was  pray- 
ing and  confessing  my  sins  and  the  sins  of  my  people," 
and  so  on.  There  were  many  more,  even  those  whose 
conduct  has  been  criticised,  w^ho  seem  to  have  been  more 
highly  esteemed  of  God  than  their  critics. 

But  the  content  of  Christ's  example  has  never  been 
fully  grasped,  as,  indeed,  it  can  hardly  be,  by  the  finite 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  13 

mind.  One  who  had  never  seen  a  watch  might  look  at  the 
outside  of  it  and  think  it  to  be  very  simple,  very  easy  to 
pattern  after  but  when  the  watch  is  opened  and  its  com- 
plicated structure,  its  content,  is  revealed,  the  difficulty 
of  copying  it  is  seen. 

So  with  the  life  of  Christ.  Within  the  apparently 
simple  exterior  there  is  a  complexity  of  detail  that  only 
an  inspired  writer  could  outline  and  the  most  profound 
intellect  could  explain. 

But  this  may  be  touched  upon  at  another  time. 
Again  there  are  his  wonderful  works  for  the  relief  of 
suffering.  But  he  did  not  need  to  become  incarnate  to 
heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers  or  even  to  raise  the  dead. 
He  had  as  much  power  before  his  incarnation  as  when 
he  was  in  the  flesh.  He  could  have  healed  any  disease  or 
relieved  any  human  suffering  without  leaving  his  home 
on  high.  He  was  moved  with  compassion  at  human 
suffering  and  relieved  it  as  any  of  us  would  have  done  or 
would  do  if  we  had  the  power.  But  there  was  another 
object  in  view,  another  object  attained,  that  of  proving 
his  character  and  establishing  his  claims  as  the  Son  of 
God.  "The  works  that  I  do  in  my  Father's  name  they 
bear  witness  of  me."  There  was  nothing  that  he  did  while 
he  was  in  the  flesh  that  he  could  not  have  done  without 
taking  on  that  robe  of  flesh. 

But  the  great,  what  we  may  call  the  supreme,  subsid- 
iary purpose  for  which  he  came  to  earth  in  the  form  of 
man,  was  to  make  an  atonement  for  sin  so  that  God 
could  be  just  and  yet  to  justify,  to  treat  as  just  or  inno- 
cent, those  who  would  come  to  him  through  Chrrist,  or 
accept  that  sacrifice  that  Jesus  Christ  made  on  Cal- 
vary. But  the  atonement  of  Christ  is  the  offense  of  the 
cross.  There  is  no  doctrine,  and  even  in  this  age  of  the 
world  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  term  "doctrine,"  or  I  may 
say,  no  truth  recorded  in  the  scriptures  of  truth  that  is 


14  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

more  hard  for  human  nature  to  receive  than  the  declared 
truth  of  the  atonement  of  Christ.  It  is  so  humihating  to 
human  pride,  so  opposed  to  human  choice,  to  depend  for 
salvation  upon  the  atonement  of  Christ  that  many  will 
not  receive  the  truth.  And  yet  its  necessity  is  founded  in 
the  very  nature  of  things.  The  whole  patriarchal  dispen- 
sation had  reference  to  it,  the  whole  Jewish  dispensation 
was  founded  upon  the  fact  that  satisfaction  must  be  made 
to  Divine  Justice  before  sins  could  be  forgiven  or  men 
could  be  at  peace  with  God.  The  sacrifice  of  Abel  was  a 
type  of  the  one  on  Calvary.  All  of  the  sacrifices  in  the 
whole  Jewish  dispensation  w^ere  but  the  types  of  the  great 
Antitype,  him  who  was  made  an  "offering  and  a  sacri- 
fice for  sin." 

No  truth  was  more  the  object  of  prophecy  in  the  Old 
Testament,  no  truth  more  emphasized  in  the  New,  than 
that  Christ  was  offered  up  as  an  oft'ering  and  a  sacrifice 
for  sin.  The  doctrine  is  not  simply  Paul's.  It  is  more 
emphatically  the  teaching  of  Him  who  said  that  he  came 
"Lutron  anti  pollon,"  a  sacrifice,  instead  of,  in  the  place 
of,  many. 

If  the  doctrine  of  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ 
as  an  atonement  for  sin  is  not  a  truth  it  is  impossible  for 
God  to  express  his  thoughts  to  men,  or  for  the  Greek 
language  to  convey  a  definite  idea. 

One  difficulty  in  accepting  this  truth  is  the  difficulty 
of  perceiving  why  it  should  be  true.  This  difficulty  arises 
from  an  inadequate  conception  of  the  scope  of  God's  gov- 
ernment. 

There  are  unnumbered  millions  of  sentient  beings 
who  have  never  been  clothed  with  the  vestments  of  the 
flesh,  beings  who  existed  before  the  material  universe 
was  brought  into  being.  All  must  be  and  are  under  the 
government  of  God.  Have  all  submitted  to  that  govern- 
ment as  loyal  subjects?     Evidently  not.     Christ  says,  'T 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  15 

beheld  Satan  as  lightning  fall  from  heaven."  And  he  had 
his  myriads  of  followers.  There  are  wicked  spirits  in  the 
universe.  How  did  they  become  such?  God  never  made 
a  wicked  spirit  any  more  than  he  made  a  wicked  man.  He 
made  beings,  spirits  and  humans,  innocent;  but  their 
character  must  be  determined  by  their  own  voluntary, 
choice.  God  never  made  a  wicked  being  as  such.  They 
make  their  own  characters.  That  is  the  case  with  men. 
In  the  very  nature  of  things  this  must  be  the  case  with  un- 
incarnate  beings.  They  become  wicked  by  following  the 
selfish  impulses  of  their  own  natures.  But  God  must  be 
just.  He  is  supreme  and  every  being  must  be  subser- 
vient to  him.  ''J^^stice  and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of 
thy  throne."  As  a  necessary  consequence  rebellion  against 
God's  authority  was  punished,  or,  at  least,  for  the  good  of 
those  yet  innocent  the  prime  mover  of  sedition  with  all  his 
followers  was  excluded  from  heaven  and  sent  to  "The 
place  prepared  for  the  Devil  and  his  angels."  This  view  is 
not  simply  Miltonic ;  it  is  scriptural,  reasonable,  and  in 
some  of  its  phases,  in  accordance  with  human  experience. 
On  the  occasion  of  that  revolt  in  heaven,  we  may 
imagine  God  as  saying  to  himself,  or  to  the  constituents 
of  his  being,  "Let  us  make  man  in  our  likeness."  For  the 
developing  of  a  race  of  beings  that  should  be  immune 
from  temptation  or  above  its  power  when  they  should 
come  to  their  final  state,  he  constructed  the  entire  physi- 
cal universe.  This  unverse  was  designed  as  the  home  of  a 
race  of  beings  *'A  little  lower  than  the  gods."  Those  be- 
ings were  clothed  with  material  bodies,  thus  subjecting 
them  to  a  new  discipline  for  developing  stronger  char- 
acters in  righteousness. 

There  are  temptations  of  the  flesh  that  are  not  inci- 
dent to  pure  unincarnate  spirits.  All  of  this  physical  uni- 
verse was  constructed  with  reference  to  the  training  of 
this  new  race  of  beings.    But  if  one  of  these  beings  trans- 


16  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

gressed  the  law  of  God,  the  same  consequences  must  fol- 
low as  followed  the  transgressions  of  unembodied  spirits, 
or  God  would  be  unjust.  Sin  must  be  followed  by  pen- 
alty in  the  physical  universe  as  it  was  in  the  unseen 
world  of  spirits.  If  God  punished  the  ''Angels  who  kept 
not  their  first  estate,"  he  must  do  the  same  for  man.  I 
speak  of  Justice.  That  is  not  a  merely  arbitrary  idea  of 
God.  It  is  inherent  in  his  nature  as  God,  and  its  exercise 
is  absolutely  essential  for  the  highest  interest  of  all  of  his 
creatures. 

Now,  whether  this  view  be  correct  or  not,  there  are 
legions,  myriads,  of  spiritual  beings,  both  good  and  bad, 
who  were  and  are  to  be  witnesses  of  God's  dealings  with 
the  race  of  beings  which  he  brought  into  being.  So  God's 
righteousness  must  be  vindicated  before  angels  and  men. 
Justice  must  be  administered,  or  the  government  of  God 
would  be  despised  and  anarchy  would  result  in  all  the 
universe  of  seen  and  unseen  beings. 

But  ''All  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God."  How  then  can  any  one  escape  the  consequences? 
The  problem  was  too  deep  for  the  jurists  of  old.  God 
solved  the  problem,  it  was  by  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of 
Christ. 

So  Jesus  died, 

"Making  His  soul  an  offering  for  sin; 

Just  for  unjust,  and  innocence  for  guilt ; 

By  doing,  suffering,  dying  unconstrained. 

Save  by  omnipotence  of  boundless  grace. 

Complete  atonement  made  to  God  appeased ; 

Made  honorable  His  insulted  law, 

Turning  the  wrath  aside  from  pardoned  man ; 

Thus  truth  with  Mercy  met,  and  righteousness. 

Stooping  from  highest  heaven,  embraced  fair  Peace 

That  walked  the  earth  in  fellowship  with  Love." 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  17 

Thus  the  greatest  subsidiary  purpose  for  which 
Christ  came  was  accomplished. 

The  supreme  purpose  for  which  he  came  must  next 
be  considered. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Supreme  Purpose  For  Which  Christ  Came  Into 

The  World. 

''  I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life  and  that  they 
might  have  it  more  abundantly  f 

These  remarkable  words  of  Christ  have  not  gener- 
ally been  fully  understood.  What  does  He  mean  by  say- 
ing that  He  was  come  that  they  might  have  life?  He  was 
not  addressing  dead  corpses,  nor  was  he  speaking  of  those 
who  were  physically  dead,  or  in  the  sense  in  which  we 
usually  speak  of  the  dead.  He  evidently  did  not  mean 
that  he  would  restore  to  physical  life  those  who  were  in 
their  graves.  They  were  not  his  sheep.  Those  of  whom 
he  spoke  were  those  who  followed  him,  loved  him,  his 
disciples.  The  question  again  recurs,  What  does  he 
mean?  For  an  answer  we  must  go  back  to  Gen.  11.  God 
breathed  into  Adam  the  breath  of  life  and  he  became  a 
living  soul.  That  was  the  impartation  to  our  first  parent 
of  life  from  God,  God's  own  life.  But  God  said  that  if 
he,  Adam,  ate  of  the  forbidden  fruit  that  he  should  die. 
Satan  said  that  he  should  not  die.  Which  told  the  truth? 
According  to  the  popular,  the  common  conception,  Satan 
told  the  truth  and  God  told  the  wrong  story.  Adam  did 
not  die  a  physical  death  for  nearly  a  thousand  years  af- 
terward. Did  God  then  tell  a  wrong  story?  No.  "Let 
God  be  true,  though  every  man  be  a  liar."  The  truth  is 
that  God  was  speaking  of  the  Eternal  life  principle  that 
God  imparted  when  He  breathed  into  Adam  "The  breath 
of  life  and  he  became  a  living  soul." 

Adam  was  already  a  human  being,  he  had  animal, 
even  more,  he  had  the  human  life  principle  already.  But 
added  to  this  God  imparted  to  him  of  His  own  life.   That 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities  19 

was  eternal  life,  eternal  in  the  sense  that  it  never  had  a 
beginning  and  would  never  have  an  end.  It  was  the  im- 
partation  of  God's  own  Hfe  principle.  That  was  the  life 
of  which  God  spoke  when  He  told  Adam  that  he  should 
die  the  day  he  disobeyed.  When  Adam  received  that  life 
from  God  he  was  a  child  of  God.  Our  children  are  our 
children  because  we  have  imparted  to  them  of  our  own 
life.  When  God  imparted  to  Adam  his  life,  Adam  was  a 
child  of  God.  He  then  was  a  partaker  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture and  not  until  then.  Parents  impart  of  their  lives  to 
their  children.  God  imparted  of  His  life  to  our  first 
parents. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  observe  that  this  life  princi- 
ple is  not  simply  different  as  to  duration,  continuance,  it  is 
different  in  kind.  Its  nature  is  different,  it  produces  dif- 
ferent results  from  the  merely  human  life. 

Anything  that  has  life  will  produce  results  accord- 
ing to  the  life  principle  it  contains.  There  may  be  mil- 
lions of  protoplasmic  cells  so  nearly  alike  that  no  micro- 
scopic, no  chemical  test  could  detect  the  difference.  Yet 
one  in  its  development  would  produce  a  toadstool,  another 
an  oak. 

No  two  of  millions  might  develop  in  the  same  way  or 
produce  like  results.  But  each  one  produces  results  ac- 
cording to  its  own  peculiar  life  principle.  Conversely,  each 
product  partakes  of  the  life  principle  of  the  parent.  I 
may  repeat  a  thought  here  for  emphasis.  When  God 
breathed  into  Adam  the  breath  of  life  and  he  became  a 
living  soul.  He  imparted  to  him  the  principle  of  the  God 
life  that  would  develop  Godlike  character  and  produce 
the  fruits  of  holiness.  Godlike  living. 

It  was  this  life  of  which  God  spoke  and  warned 
Adam,  'Tn  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely 
die."  Satan  said,  '*Ye  shall  not  surely  die."  Which  told 
the  truth?    Upon  the  surface  of  things  Satan  told    the 


20  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

truth,  for,  as  said  before,  Adam  lived  for  many  years 
after  that.  But  God  was  speaking  of  the  God  inbreathed 
principle  of  eternal  life,  God's  own  life  imparted  to  him. 
That  life  went  out.  In  the  sense  of  the  God  imparted  life 
Adam  was  dead.  And  that  was  death  in  the  supreme 
sense,  the  separation  of  the  soul  from  the  body  is  called 
death  by  way  of  accommodation ;  there  is  no  better  term, 
perhaps,  to  employ.  But  that  God  given  life  was  life  in  the 
supreme  sense,  its  extinction  was  death  in  the  supreme 
sense.    In  that  sense  Adam  was  dead.    God  told  the  truth. 

And  now  what  followed  ?  No  created  being  can  im- 
part to  its  offspring  a  kind  of  life  that  itself  does  not  pos- 
sess. Adam  could  not  impart  to  his  offspring  the  princi- 
ple of  the  God  life,  the  eternal  life,  for  after  his  trans- 
gressions he  did  not  have  it.  This  is  the  philosophy  of 
the  fact  that  Paul  expresses,  "In  Adam  all  died."  His 
posterity  would  have  life  of  a  kind,  but  not  that  kind  that 
was  of  God,  the  principle  of  eternal  life.  If  his  offspring 
ever  had  that  kind  of  life  it  must  be  by  direct  impartation 
from  God.  And  so  it  came  about  that  "In  Christ  must 
all  be  made  alive." 

That  men  might  be  made  alive  in  that  sense  was 
the  supreme  purpose  for  which  Christ  came,  suffered, 
died  and  rose  again.  After  Christ  had  accomplished 
his  work,  God  could  be  just  and  the  justifier,  or  would 
be  able  to  treat  as  just  or  innocent  all  who  would  come 
to  him  through  Christ.  Adam  was  innocent  when  God 
imparted  to  him  that  life.  By  accepting  the  work  of 
Christ  we  may  be  treated  as  innocent.  Accepting  that 
life  we  become  the  children  of  God  in  a  new  and  unique 
sense.  We  are  then  the  children  of  God  because  He 
has  imparted  his  own  life  to  us  and  we  are  his  children 
as  those  to  whom  we  impart  life  are  our  children.  "But 
as  many  as  received  him  to  them  he  gave  power  to  be- 
come the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  21 

name,  which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of 
the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

Then  we  are  in  no  semi-fictitious  mythical  or  myste- 
rious sense,  but  really,  truly,  actually,  the  children  of  God 
and  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature. 

So  Christ  says,  "I  am  come  that  they  might  have 
Hfe." 

But  there  are  so  many  in  these  days  who  insist 
that  independently  of  Christ  we  are  by  natural  birth  the 
children  of  God  that  we  need  to  insist  upon  what  Christ 
himself  and  the  inspired  writers  say  on  this  subject. 

But  Christ  makes  the  declaration  above  in  no  equiv- 
ocal terms.  It  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  impart  a 
life  that  they  already  had.  He  must  have  meant  some* 
thing  entirely  different  from  the  natural  life.  He  re- 
fers to  eternal  life  as  he  elsewhere  says,  "I  give  unto 
my  sheep  eternal  life."  Paul  says  the  gift  of  God  is 
eternal  life,  or  changing  the  order  for  clearness.  Eternal 
life  is  the  gift  of  God.  It  is  the  imparting  of  a  new  life 
principle.  Note  again  where  he  says,  "She  that  liveth 
to  pleasure  is  dead  while  she  liveth."  So  is  every  one. 
Again,  "To  be  carnally  minded  is  death."  It  is  spiritual 
death,  and  what  I  wish  to  emphasize  in  this  connection 
is  that  the  spiritual  nature  is  tlie  man.  The  material  body 
is  but  an  appendage  attached  to  the  real  man  for  a  spe- 
cific but  temporary  purpose.  Again,  "Thou  hast  a  name 
to  live  but  art  dead."  There  is  nothing  figurative,  myth- 
ical or  mysterious  about  these  words.  They  but  ex- 
press a  literal  truth  for,  so  far  as  the  divine  life  is  con- 
cerned, they  were  dead.  They  are  dead  as  Adam  was 
dead  after  his  transgressions.  And  again,  writing  to  the 
Ephesians,  Paul  says,  "You  hath  he  quickened  who  were 
dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  The  word  "quickened" 
means  the  bringing  to  life.  Paul  speaks  of  himself  as 
among  those  who  had  been  dead.     He  says  "Even  when 


22  The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities 

we  were  dead  in  sins  hath  he  quickened,"  or  given  Hfe  to. 

Other  passages  might  be  quoted  of  the  same  import, 
but  perhaps  these  are  sufficient.  But  it  cannot  be  too 
strongly  emphasized  that  those  who  accept  Christ,  those 
who  have  been  born  again,  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  are  literally,  truly  and  in  no  figurative  sense,  the 
children  of  God.  As  such  they  will  go  on  developing 
according  to  the  life  principle  that  is  in  them  and  ani- 
mates them. 

To  recapitulate  in  a  few  words,  God  imparted  to 
Adam  of  his  own  life,  eternal  life.  Adam  sinned  and 
that  life  went  out.  He  died  as  God  said  that  he  would. 
Losing  that  life  he  could  not  impart  it  to  his  offspring. 
That  death  constituted  the  Fall  of  Man.  Its  effect  upon 
posterity  was  death  in  the  supreme  sense — Spiritual 
death.  'Tn  Adam  all  died."  If  any  of  his  posterity 
ever  were  to  receive  that  life  it  must  be  by  direct  impar- 
tation  as  Adam  received  his  life.  It  was  that  life,  eternal 
life,  that  Christ  came  to  impart.  'T  am  come  that  they 
might  have  life  and  that  they  might  have  it  more  abund- 
antly." That  more  abundant  life  may  be  the  result  of 
years  of  development,  and  may  be  considered  later. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Mystery  of  how  One  Life  can  be  United  With 

Another. 

"Hozv  can  these  tilings  he?"    (John  3  :3.) 

The  circumstances  in  which  these  words  were  spo- 
ken are  famihar  to  all.  A  Jewish  rabbi  came  to  Jesus  by 
night  to  learn  of  his  teachings.  He  was  a  learned  man, 
a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim,  the  most  learned  body  of 
men  in  Israel  and  the  court  of  final  resort  among  the 
Jews  for  all  questions  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical.  He 
was,  too,  evidently  sincere.  He  pays  Jesus  the  compli- 
ment, "We  know  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God, 
for  no  man  can  do  the  miracles  that  thou  doest  except 
God  be  with  him."  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him, 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee  except  a  man  be  born 
again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  Nicodemus  is 
puzzled  and  asks,  "How  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is 
old?"  Jesus  does  not  answer  his  questions  except  to 
repeat  the  mystifying  assertion,  "Except  a  man  be  born 
of  water  and  the  spirit  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God."  After  further  conversation  that  learned  rabbi 
is  still  more  mystified  and  asks,  "How  can  these  things 
be?" 

And  so  the  question  arises,  "Is  it  possible  that  a 
new  life  principle  can  be  imparted  to  a  life  already  ex- 
isting?" Jesus  did  not  try  to  explain  the  mystery,  he 
continued  to  assert  the  fact.  In  nature  we  cannot  explain 
the  mystery,  we  cannot  even  explain  the  mystery  of  a 
single  life. 

Philosophers,  scientists,  as  well  as  others,  have  tried 
in  vain  to  tell  what  life  is.  But  the  fact  remains,  Life  is. 
As  has  been  stated  there  may  be  millions  of  protoplasmic 


24  The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities 

cells,  each  with  its  own  distinctive  life  principle,  and 
each  producing  different  results.  Each  develops  accord- 
ing to  the  life  that  animates  it.  And  not  only  this,  but 
each  form  is  animated  by  at  least  two  distinct  life  prin- 
ciples. Without  this  union  it  cannot  develop,  but  re- 
mains as  if  dead.  The  ovum  in  the  ovary  of  the  plant 
has  life,  its  own  kind  of  Hfe.  But  it  must  remain  as  if  dead 
until  the  male  life  principle  is  imparted  to  it.  Then  it  has 
potency,  it  can  develop  according  to  the  combined  life  of 
both.  The  same  is  true  in  the  animal  creation.  The 
ovum  in  the  ovary  of  the  female  is  inert,  incapable  of 
growth  until  the  male  life  is  imparted  to  it.  Then  it  can 
develop  and  it  will  be  in  accordance  with  the  combined 
lives.  The  outcome  will  partake  of  the  nature  of  both, 
though  one  or  the  other  is  likely  to  predominate. 

The  union  of  three  life  principles  in  the  Deity  is 
not  more  hard  to  understand  than  that  of  two  in  human 
beings.  The  latter  we  know  to  be  a  fact  though  beyond 
our  comprehension.  We  need  not  quarrel  with  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  of  God  with  any  more  reason.  The 
fact  is  that  the  law  of  the  impenetrability  of  matter  does 
not  hold  in  the  realm  of  spirit. 

The  life  of  God  could  and  did  unite  with  that  of 
Adam  and  then  he  was  of  the  image  of  God.  When  he 
lost  that  life  he  lost  the  feature  that  made  him  Godlike 
as  well  as  the  power  to  perpetuate  in  his  posterity  God- 
likeness. 

There  was  left  simply  the  mere  human  element,  and 
as  Paul  says,  'That  in  me,  that  is  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth 
no  good  thing."  That  is  the  basis  of  the  doctrine  of  orig- 
inal sin.  It  is  sin  in  posse,  but  not  in  esse.  It  is  not  actual 
sin  that  has  been  committed,  but  a  certainty  that  when 
one  is  of  the  ability  to  know  good  and  evil  he  certainly 
will  commit  sin.  It  is  in  his  nature.  A  young  lion  may 
never  have  injured  any  one,  but  he  has  a  nature  that 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities  25- 

will  naturally  lead  him  to  kill  when  he  has  the  opportuni- 
ty or  necessity.  It  is  in  his  nature.  It  is  simply  that 
self  and  self  interest  are  naturally  predominant.  He  is 
influenced  by  those  things  that  are  most  nearly  connect- 
ed with  himself.  So  he  is  likely,  yes,  certain  to  ''trans- 
gress," or  cross  the  boundaries  of  the  great  command- 
ment, the  Law  of  love.  When  the  God  life  is  united 
with  the  human,  there  results  the  Divine  life.  There  is 
a  new  nature  with  a  new  incentive.  Then  we  can  truly 
say  with  the  apostle,  "Now  are  we  the  sons  of  God  and  it 
doth  not  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know  that 
when  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  him  for  we  shall 
see  him  as  he  is."  There  is  a  great  deal  said  these  days 
as  if  all  the  human  race  were  the  children  of  God.  That 
term  may  be  applied  in  a  kind  of  loose,  conventional  way, 
but  it  is  likely  to  be  fatally  misleading.  What  is  the 
status  of  a  ''child  of  God"  who  has  not  been  "born  of 
God?"  Taking  the  teachings  of  Christ  for  it,  he  is  out- 
side of  the  kingdom  and  can  never  enter  it. 

Christ  was  not  speaking  to  an  outcast  vagabond 
when  he  said,  "Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of 
the  Spirit  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God,"  Nico- 
demus  himself  was  no  exception,  "Ye  must  be  born 
again."  What  is  a  new  birth  but  the  beginning  of  a  new 
life  within? 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  remark  that 
when  a  person  is  new  born  he  is  not  full  grown.  What 
a  wise,  benevolent  arrangement  it  is  that  physically  we 
come  into  the  world  as  infants.  What  a  cold,  hardhearted 
world  this  would  be  without  the  influence  of  the  little 
ones.  The  helplessness  of  infancy,  the  beauty  of  child- 
hood, what  wonderful  influence  for  good.  So  with  the 
new  born  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Those  who  are  older 
have  a  great  opportunity,  a  great  privilege  in  the  way  of 
encouraging,  assisting,  those  who  are  younger  in  the  way 


26  Tlie  Divine  Life'.     Its  Development  and  Activities 

than  themselves.  How  Christ  treated  his  disciples !  How 
beautiful,  almost  pathetically  beautiful,  was  his  relation- 
ship with  his  disciples !  They  were  really,  truly,  his  fol- 
lowers, his  children,  his  disciples,  with  the  emphasis  on 
the  word  disciple,  or  learners.  How  often  were  their 
weaknesses,  or  ignorance  displayed  and  how  often  they 
made  mistakes ;  and  yet  with  what  tender  solicitude  he 
bore  with  them,  led  them,  instructed  them  in  his  way,  by 
way  of  developing  them  in  Godlikeness.  It  is  his  way 
now.  When  one  is  "born  of  God"  he  may  yet  be  but  a 
mere  child  in  that  life.  But  there  are  infinite  reaches  of 
growth,  development,  before  him. 

Hostile  criticism  may  be  very  wide  of  the  mark.  Ig- 
norance, weakness,  heredity,  the  influences  of  early  en- 
vironment and  other  circumstances  may  operate  to  make 
a  very  poor  showing  of  a  divine  life.  But,  after  all,  if 
one  has  the  life  principle  it  will,  eventually,  proQuce  its 
effects.  Such  a  life  has  ''the  eternal  years"  before  it. 

But  the  question  has  arisen  as  to  infants  who  have 
not,  of  course,  consciously,  intelligently,  accepted  Christ. 
Are  they  the  subjects  of  salvation?  The  question  is  not 
hard  to  answer.  While  Adam  was  innocent  God  freely 
volunteered  to  impart  to  him  of  his  own  life.  He  would 
without  doubt  do  the  same  for  infants  taken  away  in 
their  innocence,  "For  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Again  the  question  may  arise  as  to  those  who  lived 
and  died  beforeChrist  came  to  make  an  atonement  for 
sin.  But  here,  again,  the  answer  is  apparent.  In  the 
councils  of  God  and  to  the  knowledge  of  all  sentient  be- 
ings who  were  concerned,  the  Lamb  was  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  The  promise  of  the  United 
States  government  to  pay  $10  or  any  other  sum  of  money 
is  as  good  as  the  gold.  The  promise  of  God  to  send  a 
Redeemer  was  as  good  as  its  fulfillment  until  the  p';oper 
time  should  come  for  that  fulfillment. 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities  27 

If  Abel  had  been  asked  as  he  knocked  at  the  c,^ate  of 
heaven  by  what  right  he  claimed  admission  he  could  have 
replied,  "Bythe  atonement  of  the  Son  of  God  to  be  offered 
on  Calvary  four  thousand  years  hence."  He  had  accept- 
ed that  work  of  Christ  by  offering  up  sacrifices  which 
were  the  types  of  the  great,  the  efficient,  sacrifice.  So  of 
every  other  mortal  who  by  faith  in  the  promise  accepted 
the  sacrifice. 

A  question  here  may  be  pertinent.  What  must  liave 
been  the  suffering  by  which  that  Antitype  redeemed  that 
promise,  paid  the  price  and  justified  the  faith  of  all  the 
faithful  of  the  preceding  centuries?  The  humiliation  of 
limiting  himself  to  human  degree,  laying  aside  the  glory 
that  he  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was,  the 
rebuffs  he  met  from  those  he  came  to  save.  Note  the 
limited  conceptions  of  his  nature,  and  real  dignity  of  him 
even  by  his  closest  followers,  not  his  sorrow  as  he  looked 
upon  the  desolations  that  in  the  near  future  were  to  come 
upon  his  loved  city  and  people,  note  the  bloody  sweat, 
the  garden  agony,  the  nails,  the  spear.  What  finite  mind 
can  grasp  the  price  paid  by  the  Infinite  Son  of  God  for 
man's  redemption! 

"The  Son  of  God  in  tears, 
Bewondering  angels  see, 
Be  thou  astonished,  O  my  soul. 
He  shed  those  tears  for  thee." 

Another  question  is  pertinent  here  but  one  it  is  hard 
to  ask :  What  must  be  the  fate  of  those  who,  knowing 
the  price  paid  for  their  redemption  still  reject  it,  still  re- 
fuse the  salvation  so  freely  offered  and  yet  so  costly?  I 
will  not  ask  it,  but  will  let  the  writer  of  the  letter  to  the 
Hebrews  ask  it ;  "For  if  the  word  spoken  by  angels  v/as 
steadfast,  and  every  transgression  and  disobedience  re- 
ceived a  just  recompense  of  reward,  how  shall  we  es- 
cape, if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ?"    And  again,  "He 


28  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

that  despised  Moses'  law  died  without  mercy  under  two 
or  three  witnesses,  of  how  much  sorer  punishment,  sup- 
pose ye,  shall  he  be  thought  worthy,  who  hath  trodden 
under  foot  the  Son  of  God  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of 
the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  an  unholy 
thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  spirit  of  grace?" 

But  it  is  not  my  purpose  so  much  to  call  attention 
to  what  those  must  suffer  who  refuse  the  gift  of  life  as 
to  what  they  gain  who  accept  it,  Eternal  Life. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

God  is  able  to  graft  them  in  again/'     (Romans  11 


23.) 


These  words  of  the  apostle,  while  directly  referring 
to  the  possibility  of  a  restored  Israel,  may  serve  to  illus- 
trate one  phase  of  the  impartation  of  the  Divine  Life. 

There  are,  probably,  millions  of  naval  organge  trees 
in  the  United  States.  They  produce  an  excellent  fruit, 
but  they  have  no  seeds.  How,  then,  can  they  be  propo- 
gated  ?  They  have  no  power  of  self  reproduction.  How, 
then,  have  these  trees  become?  The  answer  is  easy. 
There  is  in  Brazil  a  single  tree  of  that  variety.  We  may 
not  question  how  it  became,  now  it  exists.  From  its 
scions,  bud  timber,  were  taken  years  ago,  and  brought  to 
this  country.  They  were  inserted,  grafted  or  budded  into 
the  natural,  common  stock.  They  produce  the  fruit  of 
the  original  tree  because  they  partake  of  the  life  of  that 
parent  tree.  That  life  principle  is  imparted,  transmitted 
through  all  of  the  successive  operations  of  grafting  to 
perpetuity. 

It  is  a  pleasing  thought  that  in  its  original  habitat  the 
best  fruit  is  obtained  by  grafting  into  the  worst  quality 
of  orange  stock.  The  God  life  has  been  imparted  to  the 
most  forbidding  human  beings  and  with  wonderful  re- 
sults. It  suggests,  at  least,  that  there  is  no  man  so  de 
graded,  so  low  down  in  the  scale  of  being  but  that  he  may 
be  renewed,  restored  to  an  honorable  life ;  more  than  that, 
he  can  be  restored  to  the  image  of  God,  and  become  a 
child  of  God. 

But  we  need  not  carry  out  this  illustration  further 
than  this,  the  parent  tree  imparts  its  life  to  all  the  trees 
that  its  scions  are  grafted  into. 


30  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

And  now  an  interesting  question  arises,  can  scions 
from  the  grafted  tree  produce  the  fruits  of  the  original 
tree?  In  nature,  yes,  of  course.  That  is  the  way  by 
which  all  of  the  trees  of  that  kind  now  existing,  or  near- 
ly all  at  least,  became  what  they  are.  But  does  this  hold 
true  in  the  case  that  this  is  designed  to  illustrate?  In 
other  words,  can  Christian  parents  impart  the  God  life 
to  their  offspring?  There  are  instances,  in  which  it 
would  seem  to  have  been  the  case.  But  even  in  such  cases 
there  has  been  a  conscious  act  of  will  essentially  accept- 
ing the  work  of  Christ  so  far  as  the  knowledge  extended. 

There  is  a  great  deal  said  about  ministers'  sons  and 
deacons'  daughters,  as  if  they  generally  turned  out  badly. 
The  reverse  is  the  fact.  In  innumerable  instances  the 
children  have  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  the  parents. 
When  there  is  an  exception  it  is  so  remarkable  that  it 
attracts  attention. 

There  are,  of  course,  exceptions  to  the  general  rule, 
but  only  enough  to  teach  that  salvation  is  an  individual 
matter.  Each  one  must  stand  upon  his  own  feet  before 
God.  No  one  can  trust  his  own  salvation  to  any  one 
else.  His  destiny  is  in  his  own  individual  keeping.  And 
so  we  have  the  worst  of  men,  sometimes,  the  sons  of  the 
best  of  parents,  and  the  best  of  men  the  offspring  of  the 
worst.  The  rule  is,  "Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he 
should  go  and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it." 

Returning  now  to  the  main  line  of  thought — God  im- 
parts of  his  own  life  to  those  whom  he  justifies  through 
the  merits  of  Christ's  atonement.  So  one  who  is  thus 
^'regenerated"  becomes  a  partaker  of  God's  own  life,  of 
the  life  of  Christ,  of  the  life  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  All  are 
spoken  of  as  dwelling  within  us.  Then  are  we  the  sons 
of  God  in  a  sense  peculiar,  unique.  It  is  in  no  ambiguous, 
figurative  or  fictitious  sense,  but  literally,  truly,  une- 
quivocally.   Then  we  can  sing  "I'm  the  child  of  a  King." 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  31 

All  men,  in  a  generic  sense,  are  but  human  stocks 
into  which  the  God  life  can  be  grafted.  This  illustration 
can  be  carried  further  to  bring  to  our  thought  another 
truth  in  this  connection.  The  natural  stock  remains 
after  the  scion  has  been  inserted.  Shoots  may  grow  out 
of  that  stock  below  where  the  scion  was  inserted.  If 
allowed  to  grow  they  will  not  only  hinder  the  growth  of 
the  scion,  but  will  produce  the  fruits  of  the  original  stock. 
So  with  men.  After  the  new  life  has  been  imparted, 
much  of  the  old  human  nature  still  remains  and  strug- 
gles to  assert  itself. 

Now,  dropping  the  figure  we  have  been  employing 
to  illustrate  one  or  two  features  of  this  subject — after  re- 
generation there  still  remains  the  old  human  element, 
human  nature,  to  contend  with.  When  born  again  one 
does  not  spring  at  once,  like  the  fabled  Minerva,  full 
armed  and  panoplied  from  the  brain  of  Jupiter ;  he  is  but 
a  child  of  God  and  we  may  place  the  emphasis  on  the 
word  child. 

The  attitude  of  the  will  has,  indeed,  been  changed, 
but  there  remains  to  a  great  extent,  the  natural  impulses, 
desires,  affections  and  passions  to  be  brought  into  sub- 
jection to  the  will.  Note  the  words  of  Paul,  **For  to  will 
is  present  with  me ;  but  to  perform  that  which  is  good  I 
find  not." 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  why  were  not  all  of  those  old 
shoots  of  the  original  tree  broken  off  when  the  new  scion 
was  ingrafted ;  why  were  not  all  of  the  old  elements  of 
the  human  nature,  its  desires,  passions,  prejudices,  in- 
stincts and  impulses,  exterminated  when  the  new  life 
was  imparted? 

The  answer  is  apparent,  that  would  frustrate  the 
very  purpose  for  which  the  entire  physical  universe  was 
brought  into  existence. 


32  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Developtnent  and  Activities 

A  great  evangelist  was  once  asked,  "If  God  is  all 
good  and  all  powerful,  why  doesn't  he  kill  the  Devil?" 
The  answer  was  not  as  direct  and  positive  as  it  might, 
and  ought  to  have  been,  ''Because  he  wants  to  make 
virtue  possible  in  the  human  race.".  He  wants  a  race  of 
beings  with  stronger  moral  characters  then  could  grow 
up  in  a  breezeless  sunshine  of  a  sphere  in  which  no  trials 
ever  came  He  could  have  made  men  and  conditions 
such  that  men  would  no  more  go  astray  than  the  planets 
do  in  their  orbits  around  the  sun.  But  in  that  case  there 
would  have  been  no  more  virtue  in  men  than  in  the  plan- 
ets. God  wants  a  more  virile  race  of  beings,  a  race  up- 
right in  spite  of  trials,  in  spite  of  temptations,  and  strong 
because  they  have  exercised  their  strength  in  resisting 
evil. 

So  God  thwarts  the  purposes  of  the  Devil  and  makes 
them  subservient  to  his  own  designs. 

But  some  may  become  impatient  at  my  delay  in  com- 
ing to  the  great  point  in  this  matter,  the  source  of  our 
hope  and  strength. 

While  the  world  is  a  school  for  instruction  and  its 
evil  influences  are  a  gymnasium  for  developing  moral 
strength,  the  source  of  our  strength  to  overcome  is  Jesus 
Christ.  ''Faith  is  the  victory,"  or  as  Paul  to  the  Philip- 
pians,  "Being  confident  of  this  very  thing,  that  he  which 
has  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  perform  it  until  the 
day  of  Jesus  Christ." 

But  with  all  of  our  power  we  must  cooperate  with  him 
and,  working  together  we  may  be  able  to  change  the 
words,  "O  wretched  man  that  I  am,"  to  the  joyful  ex- 
clamation, "There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to 
them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the 
flesh  but  after  the  Spirit." 


CHAPTER  V. 
'Let  your  moderation  he  known  to  all  men,"    (Phil. 


4:5.) 


Said  a  person  once  to  his  pastor,  *'I  hate  modera- 
tion." Perhaps  in  the  sense  in  which  he  contemplated 
the  term,  he  was  right.  He,  doubtless,  was  thinking  of 
warmness  in  espousing  a  good  cause.  But  in  the  sense 
in  which  the  apostle  uses  the  word,  the  path  of  modera- 
tion is  the  path  of  rectitude.  All  of  our  natural  desires, 
passions  or  instincts  are  not  to  be  exterminated,  but  con- 
trolled, or  kept  within  the  limits  of  moderation.  The  ex- 
ercise of  the  will  in  thus  controlling  them  is  a  means  of 
grace,  an  opportunity  and  a  means  for  developing  the 
Divine  life.  Certain  passions  used  to  be  classed  as  mal- 
evolent passions.  More  properly  they  should  be  called 
defensive  passions,  given  to  assist  us  in  defending  our- 
selves or  others  against  the  wrong.  They  become  "mal- 
evolent" when  they  are  allowed  to  go  beyond  their  prop- 
er limits,  or  when  malice  enters  in,  or  they  transgress 
or  go  across  the  boundaries  of  the  law  of  love.  "What 
is  the  great  commandment  of  the  law  ?"  one  of  the  Phar- 
isees asked  Christ.  "Jesus  said  unto  him  Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
might  and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  mind.  This 
is  the  first  and  great  commandment,  And  the  second  is 
like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On 
these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets."  He  simply  quoted  from  the  book  of  Deuter- 
onomy. The  scribes  and  lawyers  were  familiar  with  that 
law,  as  one  of  them  once  replied  to  him  "Thou  hast 
answered  right."  And  when  Christ  asked  the  same  ques- 
tion of  one  of  them  the  answer  was  the  same.  In  fact 
that  law  was  written  in  the  hearts  of  men  and  was  known 


34  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

to  and  by  all  until  the  writing  was  blotted  out  by  sin.  In 
fact  all  of  the  ten  commandments,  with  possibly  one  ex- 
ception, were  written  into  the  very  constitutions  of  men 
and  would  never  have  been  needed  to  be  written  any- 
where else  if  men  had  retained  the  life  that  Adam  first 
possessed  and  which  made  him  in  the  image  of  God. 

So,  when  pride,  or  passion,  or  any  other  of  our  nat- 
ural inclinations,  causes  us  to  cross  the  bounds  of  that 
law,  we  commit  sin,  and  become  transgressors  of  the 
law.  But  the  exercise  of  self  control,  the  keeping  of 
these  passions  or  natural  instincts  or  desires  within  their 
proper  limits,  is  a  great  means  for  promoting  strength  of 
character.  In  fact,  it  seems  as  if  strong  characters  could 
be  built  up  in  no  other  way.  Strong  characters  in  right- 
eousness is  what  God  wants  and  for  which  He  has  made 
such  abundant  provision. 

Take  anger,  for  instance.  We  are  cautioned  against 
it,  and  the  caution  is  needed  for  it  is  so  likely  to  carry 
one  away  across  the  limits  of  the  law.  This  is  so  common, 
so  natural,  that  the  inspired  writers  well  may  caution  us 
against  it  as  a  work  of  the  flesh,  characteristic  of  fools, 
connected  with  pride  and  cruelty,  and  so  on.  Hence 
we  are  to  be  slow  to  anger  and  in  its  perverted  forms  it 
is  forbidden. 

But  God  is  angry  with  the  wicked  every  day.  Christ 
''looked  about  him  with  anger,  being  grieved  for  the 
hardness  of  their  hearts."  But  there  was  no  malice  in  his 
anger.  Jacob  was  rightly  angry  at  his  father-in-law  for 
the  treatment  that  he  had  received.  His  anger  was  kept 
within  due  limits.  So  Moses,  though  he  was  the  meekest 
of  men,  yet  after  an  interview  with  Pharoah,  went  out  in 
a  great  anger.  But  he  was,  more  than  any  other,  a  type 
of  Christ.  One  may  be  ''angry  and  sin  not"  when  that 
anger  is  kindled  by  acts  of  wrong.  It  may  be  but  a 
"righteous  indignation,"  and  there  is  such  a  thing. 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities         35- 

I  refer  to  these  things  because  they  are  so  closely 
connected  with  the  subject  under  consideration — growth 
in  righteousness. 

The  same  observations  may  apply  to  hatred  which 
may  be  considered  as  a  continued  condition  of  anger.  Is 
it  ever  right  to  hate?  That  depends  upon  whether  mal- 
ice enters  as  an  element,  whether  it  is  carried  beyond 
due  bonds,  or  the  object  toward  which  it  is  directed  is 
not  such  as  to  be  hated.  But  in  human  nature  it  is  so 
often  the  outcome  of  malice,  or  is  carried  too  far,  so  as 
to  transgress  the  great  law  of  love,  or  is  directed  toward 
objects  that  ought  to  be  loved,  that,  in  general,  it  is  for- 
bidden. It  has  been  styled  a  work  of  the  flesh,  as  incon- 
sistent with  a  knowledge  and  love  of  God  and  so  on. 

But  such  hatred  is  an  abortion  of  a  passion  that  in 
itself  is  lawful  and  is  even  enjoined.  Hatred  is  but  the 
antithesis  of  love.  **Ye  that  love  the  Lord,  hate  evil."  If 
one  really  loves  the  Lord  he  will  necessarily  hate  evil. 
There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  whether  we  should 
hate  the  authors  and  perpetrators  of  the  most  gigantic 
assault  upon  humanity  the  world  ever  saw.  There  may 
be,  and  with  some  there  seems  to  be,  a  feeling  that  love 
is  a  kind  of  flabby  sentimentality  that  should  be  exercised 
promiscuously  toward  everything,  good,  bad  and  indif- 
ferent, sin  and  righteousness,  God  and  the  Devil.  Such 
is  not  the  case.  The  more  one  loves  righteousness,  the 
more  he  will  hate  unrighteousness.  The  more  intense  and 
intelligent  the  love  of  God,  the  more  intense  will  be  the 
hatred  of  his  arch  enemy.  But  men  are  so  likely  to  love, 
and  to  love  only,  a  god  of  their  own  conceiving.  How 
often  we  hear  such  expressions  as,  'T  could  not  love  a 
God  that  would  doom  whole  nations  to  destruction,"  or 
that  would  send  some  of  their  friends  to  perdition,  or 
something  else;  and  all  of  the  time  be  telling  what  they 
know  that  a  just  and  righteous  God  must  do,  and  what  the 


36  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

God  of  Nature  and  the  Bible  is  doing.  If  we  do  not  love 
such  a  God  we  do  not  love  the  God  with  whom  we  have 
to  do.  To  learn  to  love  the  God  with  whom  we  have  to 
do,  is  to  develop  moral  character.  We  may  as  well  learn 
to  love  the  God  with  whom  we  have  to  do  as  to  make  a 
god  of  our  own  choice  and  finally  find  that  we  have 
made  a  wrong  choice. 

God  is  wiser  than  we.  His  thoughts  are  not  our 
thoughts  nor  his  ways  our  ways.  The  more  intelligent 
and  submissive  our  love  for  him,  the  more  intense  will 
be  our  hatred  of  his  arch  enemy  and  the  enemy  of  all 
mankind. 

In  Professor  Wilkinson's  Epic  of  Paul  occurs  a 
somewhat  remarkable  thought.  One  of  Paul's  friends 
is  agonizing  to  find  words  to  express  his  hatred  of  those 
who  are  so  persecuting  him,  when  Paul  interrupts,  ''Hast 
thou  been  made  so  perfect  in  love  that  thou  canst  hate 
like  that?'  The  stronger  the  love,  the  more  intense  will 
he  the  opposite. 

But  here  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  distinction.  Such 
hatred  may  be  the  antithesis  of  complacent  love,  but  not 
he  incompatible  with  benevolent  love.  So  we  are  exhort- 
ed to  hate  evil,  false  ways,  backsliding  and  so  on. 

One  has  to  really  smile  at  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
Psalmist  (Ps.  139:21,22),  ''Do  not  hate  them  that  hate 
thee?  and  am  I  not  grieved  with  those  that  rise  up 
against  thee?  I  hate  them  with  perfect  hatred;  I  count 
them  mine  enemies."  And  then,  in  perfect,  childlike 
innocence  he  goes  on,  "Search  me  O  God  and  know  my 
heart :  try  me  and  know  my  thoughts  and  see  if  there  be 
any  wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  of  ever- 
lasting." The  controlling  of  this  passion,  or  turning  it 
into  the  right  direction,  is  a  means  of  developing  God- 
like character.  Another  of  these  passions  may  be  pro- 
fitably   mentioned — jealousy.      To   be    called   jealous    is 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  ^7 

considered  a  reproach.  But  it  is  a  reproach  only  when 
the  passion  exists  without  due  or  sufficient  cause.  A 
man  may  have  occasion  to  be  jealous  of  his  wife  or  the 
wife  of  her  husband.  It  is  one  of  the  defensive  passions, 
not  necessarily  wrong.  Some  years  ago  a  man  was  em- 
ployed in  one  of  our  eastern  states  upon  a  piece  of  work. 
He  became  enamored  of  the  wife  of  one  of  the  citizens. 
She,  wickedly,  reciprocated.  She  made  no  attempt  to  con- 
ceal her  attachment.  She  packed  her  trunk,  even  in  the 
presence  of  her  husband,  with  no  attempt  to  disguise  the 
fact  that  she  was  about  to  desert  him  and  her  family  for 
her  paramour.  Her  husband  entreated,  argued,  pointed 
out  the  disgrace  she  was  bringing  upon  herself,  on  her 
family  of  little  children  and  on  himself ;  used  every  ar- 
gument and  inducement  to  dissuade  her  from  her  course, 
iiut  all  in  vain.  She  carried  out  her  purpose  and  years 
later  a  little  clump  of  trees  near  the  house  bore  the 
legend  "Tragedy  Grove." 

Jealousy?  That  husband  had  a  right  to  be  jealous. 
Women  often  have  a  right  and,  too  sadly,  the  occasion 
to  be  jealous  of  their  husbands.  But  the  above  incident 
illustrates  so  strikingly  the  relationship  between  God  and 
his  chosen  people.  How  often  he  speaks  of  them  as  his 
wife  and  how  pathetic,  how  infinitely  pathetic  is  his  wail 
over  their  faithlessness.     What  tragedies  have  followed. 

The  second  commandment  is  instructive  along  this 
line.  "I,  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting 
the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the 
third  and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me"  and 
so  on. 

To  a  superficial  observer  it  would  seem  as  if  God 
were  carrying  his  jealousy  to  an  undue  extent,  "visiting 
the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,"  and  so 
on.  I  might  mention  the  law  of  heredity  as  coming  in 
here.     It  may  be  to  some  extent  involved.    But  it  is  not 


38  The  Divine  Life  :     7^^  Development  and  Activities 

necessary  to  call  it  in  to  help  us  out  of  the  difficulty.  It 
is  only  to  those  that  hate  him  that  he  visits  the  iniquities, 
of  the  fathers  upon.  The  way  to  escape  the  consequences 
of  the  fathers'  sins  is  to  stop  hating  God.  It  is  only  just 
of  God  to  do  as  he  says.  If  the  children  continue  to  hate 
God  after  the  warnings  in  their  fathers'  example,  they 
simply  become  ''accessories  after  the  fact,"  to  all  of  the 
sins  of  their  ancestors.  If  one  partakes  of  stolen  proper- 
ty, condones  the  theft,  or  harbors  the  thief  himself,  he 
becomes  accessory  after  the  fact  and  is,  himself,  a  thief. 
So  if  one  wishes  to  escape  being  accessory  to  the  sins  of 
his  ancestors  he  must  stop  hating  God. 

*'Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  ways  and  the  unright- 
eous man  his  thoughts :  and  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord 
and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him ;  and  to  our  God  for 
he  will  abundantly  pardon."  God  deals  with  individuals 
as  they  are.  The  law  of  the  Kingdom  is  found  in  Eze- 
kiel  18  :19-22  :  ''Yet  say  ye,  Why?  doth  not  the  son  bear 
the  iniquity  of  the  father?  when  the  son  hath  done  that 
which  is  lawful  and  right,  and  hath  kept  my  statutes,  and 
hath  done  them,  he  shall  surely  live.  The  soul  that  sin- 
neth,  it  shall  die.  The  son  shall  not  bear  the  iniquity  of 
the  father,  neither  shall  the  father  bear  the  iniquity  of 
the  son.  The  righeousness  of  the  righteous  shall  be  upon 
him  and  the  wickedness  of  the  wncked  shall  be  upon  him.'* 
God  dwells  upon  this  still  further,  in  this  connection  to 
correct  a  very  common  misapprehension  of  the  second 
commandment.  The  jealousy  of  God  is  not  unjust,  neith- 
er should  ours  be.  We  should  be  jealous  of  Gods  honor 
and  strive  to  promote  it. 

Another  of  the  natural  inclinations  of  men  that 
needs  to  be  restrained,  kept  under  a  strong  hand,  is  Cov- 
etousness.  "Thou  shalt  not  covet,"  said  the  law\  "Take 
heed  and  beware  of  covetousness,"  says  Christ.  And  yet 
Paul  exhorts  "covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts,"  Is  there 
then,  a  contradiction?     No. 


TJic  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  39 

A  very  earnest  desire  is  covetousness  in  its  normal, 
legitimate  condition.  But  when  that  desire  would  lead 
one  to  transgress  the  great  law  of  love,  when  it  would 
lead  one  to  take  an  object  without  rendering  a  just  equiv- 
alent, it  is  forbidden  in  the  very  nature  of  things.  So  when 
it  would  lead  one  to  disobey  a  commandment  of  God,  as 
Achan  who  coveted  the  wedge  of  gold  and  goodly  Baby- 
lonish garment,  it  is  abnormal,  wicked.  With  men  in  their 
natural  condition,  this  abnormality  is  so  common,  so  uni- 
versal, the  command  in  the  law  and  the  injunction  of 
Christ  come  home  with  power.  Paul's  declaration  is 
very  often  misquoted  because  not  wholly  quoted.  Men 
say  "Money  is  the  root  of  all  evil."  No.  'The  love  of 
money  is  the  root  of  all  evil."  No,  again.  It  is  only 
when  it  "is  coveted  after"  that  "they  have  erred  from  the 
faith  and  pierced  themselves  through  with  many  sor- 
rows." The  love  of  money  is  a  divinely  imparted  in- 
stinct to  prompt  men  to  activity  for  the  benefit  of  others 
even  after  their  own  immediate  necessities  are  met.  But 
"disinterested  benevolence"  is  not  so  characteristic  of  hu- 
man nature  as  to  be,  in  itself  a  sufficient  incentive.  The 
love  of  money  comes  in  to  help  it  out.  It  is  perfectly  le- 
gitimate, necessary,  useful,  when  kept  within  due  bounds. 

It  is  said  that  one  tenth  of  our  money  belongs  to  God. 
It  all  belongs  to  him.  We  are  but  custodians.  We  are 
his  stewards.  But  this  does  not  by  any  means  imply  that 
we  are  to  give  it  all  away,  or  to  commit  the  responsibility 
for  its  good  use,  to  some  one  else.  God  wants  railroads, 
canals,  factories,  comfortable  homes — in  fact  all  of  the 
comforts  of  modern  civilization  for  his  stewards,  his  fam- 
ily.   All  of  these  objects  are  perfectly  legitimate. 

But  that  is  not  all  by  any  means.  God  wants  us  to 
feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked,  visit  the  sick  and  in 
very  many  ways  part  with  our  money  and  our  efforts 
for  something  not  ourselves  and  not  connected  with  self 


40  The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities 

interest.  And  this  for  our  own  well  being  as  much  as 
that  of  the  direct  objects  of  our  interest.  This  is  neces- 
sary in  order  to  keep  that  love  of  money  in  due  subjec- 
tion. God  could  supply  all  want,  heal  all  diseases,  cause 
the  gospel  to  be  preached  in  all  lands  and  leave  us  to 
cherish  our  own  selfishness,  but  that  would  strangle  the 
Divine  Life.  The  proper  use  of  our  means  and  of  our 
efforts  is  intended  to  develop  it.  Paul  wants  gifts  that 
should  abound  to  the  account  of  the  givers  as  well  as  to 
his  own. 

In  this  connection  we  might  speak  of  the  natural  in- 
clination for  revenge,  to  get  even,  and  generally  with  a 
desire  to  get  a  little  more  than  even.  There  is  some  truth 
in  the  words  of  Scott : 

And  if  we  do  but  watch  the  hour, 
There  never  yet  was  human  power 
That  could  evade,  if  unforgiven. 
The  patient  watch  and  vigil  long 
Of  him  who  treasures  up  a  wrong. 

But  in  that  case  the  one  "who  treasures  up  a  wrong" 
is  much  worse  off  than  the  object  of  the  revenge. 

But  this  is  one  of  the  strongest  human  passions,  one 
that  must  be  held  in  check,  controlled,  kept  in  "modera- 
tion" by  an  act  of  the  will,  to  develop  virtue.  No  one 
who  has  not  had  experience  in  this  matter,  can  imagine 
the  restfulness,  the  peace,  the  joy,  comfort  that  comes 
from  leaving  vengeance  in  the  hands  of  Him  who  has 
said  "Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay,  saith  the  Lord." 
When  one  has  suffered  some  little  wrong,  real  or  sup- 
posed, and  can  say,  "Lord,  I  am  thine,  this  matter  con- 
cerns Thee  more  than  it  does  me.  Take  it  into  thine  own 
hands  but  be  gentle  toward  him."  What  a  restful,  happy 
sensation  to  feel  that  we  do  not  have  to  be  to  the  trouble 
to  try  even  to  right  our  own  wrongs. 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities  41 

The  opposite  of  revenge  is  forgiveness.  This  is  rec- 
ognied  as  of  so  much  consequence  that  Christ  empha- 
sizes it  and  makes  the  forgiveness  of  our  own  sins  de- 
pend upon  our  forgiveness  of  others.  'Tor  if  ye  forgive 
not  men  their  trespasses,  neither  will  your  Heavenly 
Father  forgive  you  your  trespasses.  Superficially,  this  may 
seem  to  be  a  kind  of  "tit  for  tat"  arrangement,  to  be 
merely  arbitrary  on  the  part  of  God.  Could  he  not  for- 
give except  upon  the  condition  of  our  forgiving  others? 
Judicially,  no.  It  would  be  a  violation  of  a  principle  in- 
herent in  his  very  nature,  the  inherent  attribute  of  jus- 
tice. This  attribute  is  not  something  attached  to  him, 
but  a  principle  inherent  in  him. 

But  here  it  may  be  well  to  recognize  a  distinction 
that  actually  exists,  but  which  is  not  always  well  under- 
stood. It  is  that  between  subjective  and  objective  for- 
giveness, the  difference  between  a  forgiving  spirit  and 
the  objective  or  judicial  forgiveness  of  the  offender.  The 
former  should  always  be  present,  the  latter  must  depend 
upon  conditions.  The  judge  may  have  no  malice  in  his 
heart  against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  but  justice  may  de- 
mand that  judicial  forgiveness  be  withheld  and  that  sen- 
tence be  pronounced.  Jesus  prayed,  ''Father  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  That  was  the 
expression  of  his  subjective  attitude  toward  his  mur- 
derers, but  every  wail  from  a  persecuted  Jew  in  any 
part  of  the  world  is  evidence  that  they  were  not  judicially 
forgiven,  and  yet  Jesus  is  their  judge.  All  judgment 
was  committed  unto  him. 

But  what  have  these  last  two  to  do  with  moderation  ? 
In  its  legitimate  sphere  the  desire  for  revenge  is  but  an 
instinct  designed  to  assist  in  the  execution  of  justice. 
In  the  Mosaic  law  the  nearest  of  kin  were  sometimes  re- 
quired to  act  as  executioners  as  this  passion  would  assist 
in  the  discharge  of  that  duty. 


-42  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

Forgiveness?  The  subjective  attitude,  or  w^ishes 
prompted  by  that  attitude  must  be  held  in  check  at  the 
command  of  vindicative  justice. 

These  are  a  few  examples  of  many.  Moderation 
should  be  shown  in  work,  in  play,  in  exercise,  in  rest, 
in  eating  and  drinking,  and  so  on. 

There  is  one  thing  in  which  it  would  not  seem  to 
be  required,  love  to  God.  ''Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  might,  with  all  thy  soul,  with  all  thy 
strength  and  with  all  thy  mind." 

In  other  things  "Let  your  moderation  be  known  to 
all  men." 

The  path  of  moderation  is  the  path  of  rectitude  and 
to  walk  in  it  requires  the  exercise  of  qualities  that  great- 
ly promote  growth  in  Christian  character. 


CHAPTER  VL 

''Grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ/'.  (II  Peter,  3  :18.) 

''Follow  after  Charity,  and  desire  spiritual  gifts/' 
(I  Cor.  14:1.) 

As  has  been  said,  when  one  has  been  born  again, 
born  of  the  Spirit  and  thus  has  become  a  child  of  God, 
after  all  he  is  but  a  child  and  with  unlimited  room  for 
growth,  development,  before  him.  This  development  is, 
of  course,  in  accordance  with  the  life  principle  he  has 
received. 

When  the  life  principle  of  that  seedless  organge  tree 
in  Brazil  has  been  imparted  to  a  stock  here  or  anywhere 
else,  it  produces  fruit  according  to  that  life  principle. 
When  one  partakes  of  the  life  of  God,  he  will  naturally 
produce  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  love,  joy, 
peace,  meekness,  temperance,  and  we  may  add  activity 
towards  God,  and  so  on.  But  it  usually  takes  time  for 
such  fruits  to  mature. 

It  is  true  that  before  one  can  be  renewed  by  the  en- 
trance of  that  life  everything  in  consciousness  that  is 
opposed  to  that  life  must  be  given  up.  Every  known  sin 
has  to  be  abandoned,  every  evil  passion,  curbed.  But 
there  may  be,  as  there  almost  always  are,  things  that 
are  not  in  our  thoughts,  or  that  are  not  thought  to  be 
wrong,  that,  as  they  appeal  to  us  in  their  true  nature, 
have  to  be  abandoned,  and  that  require  an  act  of  the  will 
to  do.  This  may  be  a  process  requiring  years  to  accom- 
plish, but  every  exercise  of  the  will  in  that  direction 
is  an  act  that  strengthens  Christian  character,  adds  a  lit- 
tle to  our  growth  in  grace.  Temptations  are  liable  to 
assail  one  at  any  time.     If  one  gets  to  feeling  secure, 


44  The  Divine  Life'.    Its  Development  and  Activities 

as  if  he  were  beyond  the  reach  of  assaults  from  the  evil 
one,  he  is  likely  to  fall  an  easy  victim  to  such  assaults. 

It  may  be  well  to  define  temptation  as  some  appeal 
to  us  from  without  that  finds  a  response  from  within  us, 
an  appeal  that  requires  an  effort  of  the  will  to  resist.  To 
illustrate,  if  some  one  should  come  to  one  of  us  and  tell 
that  there  was  an  old  man  near  by  who  had  a  thousand 
dollars  hidden  away  somewhere  on  his  premises,  and 
propose  that  one  of  us  should  go  with  him,  kill  the  man 
and  get  his  money,  that  would  not  be  any  temptation  for 
it  would  find  no  response  from  within  us.  The  proposal 
would  be  too  horrible  to  be  a  temptation,  it  would  be  re- 
jected with  scorn,  or  anger  that  such  an  offer  should  be 
made.  But  if  in  a  trade  we  find  that  we  have  profited  a 
little  more  than  we  ought,  or  if  more  change  has  been 
given  than  needed,  there  may  be  a  disposition  to  not  cor- 
rect the  trade  or  give  back  the  change,  and  it  might  re- 
quire an  act  of  the  will  to  do  what  one  ought  to  do. 

At  any  rate  there  will  come  solicitations  to  us  from 
without  that  find  a  response  within  and  that  require  an 
act  of  the  will  to  resist.  But  every  effort  of  the  will  to  do 
the  right  and  resist  the  wrong  tends  to  promote  our 
growth.  And  the  measure  in  which  such  appeals  lose 
their  force,  the  less  they  find  a  response  from  within  us, 
is  the  measure  of  our  advance  in  the  divine  life. 

It  should  be  noted,  too,  that  the  more  such  victories 
are  obtained,  the  greater  the  advance  in  that  life,  the 
more  refined  will  be  our  sensitiveness,  and  things  that 
once  seemed  trivial,  too  small  to  notice,  or  not  regarded 
as  wrong  at  all,  may  come  to  us  as  assaults  from  the  evil 
one  that  need  to  be  resisted  with  all  of  our  power.  For 
instance  one  who  would  be  horrified  at  a  proposition  to 
steal,  in  speaking  of  one  whom  he  did  not  like,  might  use 
very  uncharitable  language  and  not  be  at  all  conscious 
that  he  was  doing  wrong.  But  as  one  grows  in  grace  that 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities         45 

consciousness  becomes  more  and  more  refined  and  he  sees 
wrong  in  words  or  actions  that  at  one  time  did  not  seem 
wrong.  It  would  be  well  to  occasionally  look  over  the 
lists  of  things  that  Paul  mentions  as  to  be  avoided.  But 
we  may  touch  upon  this  point  later  on. 

It  is  often,  perhaps  commonly,  supposed  that  Christ 
had  no  temptations  except  the  three  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  his  forty  days'  fast.  But  it  is  apparent  that 
that  was  not  the  case.  Even  then  we  read  that  after  the 
Devil  had  met  with  such  signal  repulses  as  he  did  from 
those  passages  our  Saviour  quoted  from  Deuteronomy, 
even  then  we  read  that  '*When  the  devil  had  ended  all 
his  temptation,  he  departed  from  him  for  a  season.''  But 
that  he  renewed  his  attacks  and  continued  them  all 
through  our  Saviour's  life  is  apparent  from  his  prayers, 
his  continuing  all  night  in  prayer  at  times,  and  the  dec- 
laration that  "he  was  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are^ 
yet  without  sin." 

In  the  first  passage  at  the  head  of  this  chapter  we 
read,  **Grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,"  in  the  second,  "Follow  after 
charity  and  desire  spiritual  gifts." 

Following  after  charity  is  growing  in  grace  and  no 
one  can  grow  in  grace  without  following  after  charity. 
I  combine  the  two  for  a  purpose.  Charity  is  a  technical 
term  descriptive  of  that  kind  or  quality  of  love  that  is 
Christian  Love.  Not  that  which  animals  have  for  their 
young,  not  even  that  which  all  naturally  have  for  home, 
friends,  relatives,  country,  or  any  other  natural  object 
of  affection.  Love  for  any  such  object  may  be  destitute 
of  the  peculiar  nature  of  Christian  Love. 

When  the  King  James  version  was  made  the  trans- 
lators wished  for  a  term  that  would  contain  not  the 
slightest  suggestion  of  anything  illicit,  sinister,  impure, 
so  they  used  the  word  charity  to  designate  that  kind  or 


46  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

quality  of  love  that  is  begotten  in  us  by  the  love  where- 
with Christ  loved  us.  That  is  the  kind  or  quality  of  the 
love  that  is  inherent  in  and  inseparable  from  the  life 
that  God  or  Christ  imparts  when  we  believe  in,  accept, 
Christ. 

When  we  receive  that  life,  we  receive  it  in  its  es- 
sential nature,  and  that  is  love,  for  God  is  love.  Love 
that  is  not  only  infinite  in  its  duration  and  extent  but  in 
its  purity  and  power.  Note  the  value  of  that  love  as  in- 
dicated by  the  apostle  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  first  Cor- 
inthians. He  gives  a  long  list  of  gifts  such  as  wisdom, 
knowledge,  faith,  gifts  of  healing,  working  of  miracles, 
prophecy,  discerning  of  spirits,  divers  kinds  of  tongues, 
and  so  on,  through  the  list  of  things  that  we  should  think 
of  the  greatest  value ;  but  to  him  these  were  all  of  small 
.account  as  compared  with  something  that  is  within  our 
Teach.  Note,  "Covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts :  yet  shew 
I  unto  you  a  more  excellent  way."  What  way  was  that? 
The  Charity  we  are  speaking  of.  (I  Cor.  13.)  "Though 
I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels  and  have 
not  charity,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tink- 
ling cymbal.  And  though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy, 
and  understand  all  mysteries  and  all  knowledge ;  and 
though  I  have  all  faith  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains 
and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing."  We  should  natur- 
ally think  that  with  all  these,  he  would  amount  to  a  great 
deal.  But  this  is  not  all,  "And  though  I  bestow  all  my 
goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though  I  give  my  body  to  be 
burned,  and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing." 

Of  what  infinite  value  it  must  be,  and  yet  even  that 
is  within  our  reach  though  any  of  the  lesser  things  may 
not  be.  Why  is  it  of  such  value  ?  It  is  the  essence  of  the 
Divine  life.  Then  he  goes  on  to  tell  what  it  is,  and  what 
it  does.  "Charity  suflfereth  long  and  is  kind."  What  an 
impossible  thing  is  that  for  the  natural  man.     But  this 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities  47 

is  only  the  beginning,  "Charity  envieth  not."  What,  no 
envy?  No,  it  envies  no  one.  Further,  ''Charity  vaunt- 
eth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself 
luiseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own."  Why,  that  is  strange, 
that  it  should  not  seek  her  own ;  every  one  does  that.  But 
the  difficulty  is  that  in  seeking  our  own  we  are  too  apt 
to  seek  a  little  beyond  our  own.  But  further,  ''is  not  eas- 
ily prokoved,  thinketh  no  evil;  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity, 
but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth;  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all 
things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things."  These 
must  surely  be  enough,  but  no,  he  goes  on.  "Charity 
never  f  aileth :  but  whether  there  be  prophecies,  they  shall 
fail ;  whether  there  be  tongues  they  shall  cease ;  whether 
there  be  knowledge  it  shall  vanish  away." 

At  the  end  of  this  chapter  the  apostle  speaks  of  the 
three  graces,  faith,  hope  and  charity.  He  says  that  the 
greatest  of  these  is  charity.  So  if  we  follow  after  char- 
ity we  are  growing  in  grace.  Faith  saves,  hope  is  the 
anchor  of  the  soul  to  hold  one  steadfast,  but  charity  is 
the  life  itselif. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  leading  the  weekly  church 
prayer  meeting,  and  for  a  month  or  two  we  had  been 
dwelling  upon  this  wonderful  chapter,  trying  to  get  some 
of  its  deeper  meaning  when  an  excellent  Christian  lady 
remarked  to  the  effect  that  no  one  ever  lived  up  to  the  re- 
quirements of  that  chapter.  I  replied  "No  man  ever  did 
but  the  man  Christ  Jesus." 

So  in  this  chapter  we  have  something  of  the  content 
of  Christ's  example  referred  to  in  the  first  chapter  of  this, 
volume.  In  order  to  be  saved  there  are  some  things 
that  we  must  believe  about  Christ,  to  grow  in  the  life  wc 
must  know  something  of  him;  and  we  get  a  glimpse  of 
what  he  was  and  is  from  this  wonderful  chapter  on  char- 
ity. Following  after  charity  we  are  growing  in  grace 
and  in  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ^ 


48  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

That  chapter  marks  some  of  the  landmarks  on  the  way 
as  we  follow  the  example  of  our  Lord. 

That  chapter  shows  us  the  goal  that  is  set  before  us. 
As  we  gain  a  conception  of  the  content  of  this  chapter 
we  obtain  a  knowledge  of  our  Lord.  Following  after 
charity  we  are  growing  in  grace. 

But  how  to  do  this  is  a  very  important  question. 
Paul  says  (Rom.  7,  18,  19),  *To  will  is  present  with  me, 
but  how  to  perform  that  which  is  good  I  find  not.  For 
the  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not ;  but  the  evil  which  I  would 
not,  that  I  do."  And  he  says,  *T  find  then  a  law  that, 
when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with  me."  And 
the  conflict  is  so  great  that  he  has  to  exclaim,  ''O  wretched 
man  that  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of 
this  death?"  But  he  finds  a  Deliver,  for  he  exclaims  at 
once,  'T  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.  So 
then  with  the  mind  I  myself  serve  the  law  of  God;  but 
with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin." 

But  with  too  many  of  us  ''to  will"  is  not  present 
with  us  for  we  have  not  the  fervent  passion  to  do  the  will 
of  God  that  Paul  had.  He  could  truly  say  to  too  many 
of  us,  "Ye  have  not  resisted  unto  blood,  striving  against 
sin."  We  care  so  little  about  it.  With  the  apostle  it 
was  not  so.  Every  thought,  word  and  act  must  be  brought 
into  subjection  to  Christ.  In  God's  own  wisdom  Paul 
was  forced  to  exert  every  ounce  of  his  force,  mental, 
physical  and  spiritual  in  the  conflict  in  order  to  fit  him 
for  the  work  that  God  had  for  him  to  do.  Frances  R. 
Havergal,  or  Fanny  Crosby,  evidently,  never  had  such 
soul  conflicts  for  they  were  not  necessary  to  qualify 
them  for  their  particular  work.  Paul  was  of  sterner  stuff 
and  had  a  sterner,  harder  work  to  do.  He  must  be,  and 
lie  was,  qualified  for  it  by  the  exercise  of  the  strength 
necessary  in  the  conflict  between  the  purely  human  nature 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  49 

that  remained  in  him  and  the  God  Hfe  that  had  been  im- 
parted to  him. 

It  is  written  even  of  Christ  that  he  was  made  perfect 
through  suffering.  That,  perhaps,  is  one  reason  that  he 
often  spent  whole  nights  in  prayer. 

But  how  did  the  apostle  finally  win  out  ?  By  throw- 
ing himself  wholly  upon  God.  After  his  exclamation,  **0 
wretched  man  that  I  am,"  he  finds  a  remedy  and  again 
exclaims,  'T  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

It  was  through  Him  that  he  gained  the  victory,  and 
he  could  say,  "There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation 
to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the 
flesh  but  after  the  spirit."  "Looking  unto  Jesus,  the 
Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith."  He  is  not  only  the 
author,  but  the  finisher  of  our  faith. 

But  we  must  use  the  means  that  are  furnished  for 
that  end.  No  child  ever  came  to  maturity  without  food. 
No  child  of  God  ever  came  to  anything  like  maturity  in 
the  divine  life  without  feeding  upon  the  Word  of  God 
which  is  the  soul's  food.  I  submit  a  chapter  upon  that 
Word  and  one,  also,  upon  one  of  the  most  important 
portions  of  that  Word. 

But  there  is  nothing  in  any  of  these  that  can  avail 
to  promote  this  growth,  without  prayer,  communion  with 
the  Father  of  our  spirits,  and  faith.  In  fact,  no  prayers 
would  avail  without  faith.  "Without  faith  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  please  him :  for  he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe 
that  he  is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  dili- 
gently seek  him."  Note  the  heroes  of  faith  and  what 
faith  has  accomplished  as  recorded  in  the  eleventh  chap- 
ter of  Hebrews.  Our  own  faith  is  just  as  much  warrant- 
ed, and  just  as  available  as  was  that  of  any  or  all  of  the 
Old  Testament  heroes.  "Faith  is  the  victory,  O  glorious 
victory.  That  overcomes  the  world." 


50  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

Much  of  the  discipHne  I  have  been  speaking  of  not 
only  contributes  to  our  strength,  but  reveals  our  weak- 
ness and  our  need  of  help  from  a  Higher  Power.  When 
Peter,  attempting  to  walk  on  the  sea  and  seeing  the  waves 
and  the  tempest,  saw  his  own  littleness,  he  crid  ''Lord 
save  me."  He  would  not  have  realized  his  dependence 
upon  God,  or  Christ,  if  he  had  not  begun  to  sink,  and  so 
we  do  not  realize  our  dependence  upon  a  Higher  Power 
until  we  find  out  our  own  weakness.  And  Jesus  was 
never  more  willing  to  help  Peter  than  he  is  to  help  us. 
''Are  you  having  victory  today."  is  a  question  that  reg- 
ularly recurs  in  one  of  the  best  religious  journals.  If 
you  are  not,  it  is  because  you  are  not  casting  all  upon 
Jesus.  If  you  are,  it  is  in  answer  to  prayers  that  may  not 
be  more  than  Peter's  "Lord  save  me." 

For  myself,  I  have  never  made  much  progress  in  the 
divine  life,  but  what  I  have  has  been  of  infinite  value  and 
has  been  by  vital  connection  of  my  life  with  that  of  Christ 
and  realized  by  prayer.  How  many,  many  times  have  I 
asked  Jesus  for  something,  just  as  if  he  were  standing 
by  me  in  his  bodily  presence.  I  have  felt,  perhaps,  a 
hardness  of  feeling  toward  some  one,  and,  recognizing  the 
fact,  have  just  said,  simply  in  thought,  "O  Lord,  take 
that  away  from  me,"  forget  it  and  when  it  again  came 
to  consciousness,  the  feeling  would  be  entirely  gone.  But 
that,  or  som.e  other  evil,  may  assail  us  again,  and  the 
same  remedy  must  be  resorted  to  again.  It  is  some  like 
eating,  one  eats  his  breakfast  and  is  satisfied  for  the  time 
being.  At  dinner  time,  however,  he  wants  and  needs,  his 
dinner.  So  our  spiritual  wants  may  be  supplied  for  once, 
but  that  once  is  not  designed  to  last  always. 

He  has,  indeed,  provided  salvation  "once  for  all," 
and  it  never  needs  to  be  repeated.  But  supplies  of  divine 
grace  are  not  given  in  such  measure  that  we  never  have  to 
go  for  more.     In  dispensing  grace,  God  is  more  like  a 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities  51 

father  we  have  heard  of.  His  son  was  away  from  home, 
but  was  suppHed  with  money  by  the  father.  At  first  that 
father  sent  large  sums,  but  often  he  did  not  hear  from 
the  son  again  until  the  money  was  gone.  But  the  father 
wanted  to  hear  from  him  oftener,  so  he  sent  only  small 
sums  at  a  time.    He  heard  oftener. 

So  God  wants  to  hear  from  his  children  oftener, 
but  it  is  too  sadly  true  that  He  does  not  hear  until  they 
are  in  need  of  help.  Various  evils  assail  us  and  we  have 
to  'Vatch  and  fight  and  pray." 

After  all,  Christ  is  the  vine  and  we  are  the  branches. 
It  is  by  prayer  that  the  sap  from  the  parent  stem  nour- 
ishes the  branches  and  makes  them  first  grow,  and  then 
bear  fruit. 

But  the  sphere  is  large.  All  things  in  nature  are 
designed  by  a  wise  Creator  to  promote  our  grov;th  in 
grace,  to  develop  the  Divine  life.  *'A11  things  work  to- 
gether for  good  for  those  who  love  God."  Those  who 
do  not  love  him  have  placed  themselves  out  of  harmony 
with  the  universe  and  its  outworkings. 

But  as  I  write  my  eyes  have  fallen  upon  some  won- 
derful words  of  Faber  about  the  influence,  the  power  of 
derful  words  of  aber  about  the  influence,  the  power  of 
beauty,  the  beauty  of  Jesus.  But  all  beauty  is  designed 
by  the  Creator  to  refine  and  purify.  All  of  the  beauties 
of  nature  and  art,  where  art  is  what  it  ought  to  be.  The 
beauties  of  forests  and  streams,  of  fields  and  flowers,  of 
mountains  and  valleys,  of  clouds  and  sunshine  and  shad- 
ow, of  birds  and  insects — all  are  designed  to  serve  their 
purpose  in  the  refinement  of  our  natures.  All  things 
could  have  been  made  so  as  to  serve  what  we  consider  a 
utilitarian  purpose  without  beauty.  All  could  have  min- 
istered to  the  body  without  ministering  to  the  spirit.  But 
God  has  other  designs,  higher  purposes  than  the  supply, 
merely  of  physical  needs.  But  there  are  higher  needs  to 


52  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

supply.  So  the  beauty  of  boyhood,  of  little  children  trot- 
ting along  the  streets  appeals  to  one  with  wonderfully  re- 
fining power.  So  of  music,  from  the  singing  of  birds, 
to  the  music  of  the  spheres,  from  the  simplest  instru- 
ment to  the  great  organ  in  some  cathredral — all  is  de- 
signed to  serve  a  higher  purpose  than  to  furnish  food  and 
•clothing. 

And  now  I  touch  upon  a  delicate  subject,  but  for 
nearly  all  my  life,  it  has  been  a  condition  of  mine  that  the 
human  form  divine,  attired  as  God  would  have  it,  is  as 
legitimate  an  object  for  admiration,  with  its  accompany- 
ing inspiration,  as  any  other  object  in  nature  or  art.  I 
may  speak  dogmatically,  but  it  is  with  the  most  earnest 
conviction,  that  one  sex  was  endowed  with  beauty,  with- 
out any  reference  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  race ;  but,  by 
its  influence,  to  ennoble,  to  purify,  to  elevate  the  thoughts, 
the  passions,  the  aspirations,  the  ideals,  of  the  sex  that 
was  made  more  strong  and  stern,  and  should  I  say  more 
coarse,  in  order  to  meet  the  rebuffs  of  the  world  and  stand 
as  protector  and  provider.  How  terrible  if  that  beauty 
should  mislead  or  that  others  should  betray. 

But  this  and  all  other  beauty  has  another,  perhaps 
a  higher  function.  That  is  to  point  toward,  to  lead  one 
to  admire  Him  who  is  "The  chief  est  among  ten  thousand" 
and  *'the  one  altogether  lovely."  and  note : 

*'What  is  lovely  never  dies. 

But  passes  into  other  loveliness 

Star-dust  or  sea  foam,  flowers  or  winged  air ; 

If  this  befalls  our  unworthy  dust. 

Think,  thee,  what  awaits  the  soul : 

What  glorious  vesture  it  shall  wear  at  last." 


The  Divine  Life'.    Its  Development  and  Activities  53 

And  now  for  those  soul  stirring  words  of  Faber : 

''And  O,  if  the  exiles  of  earth  could  but  win 

One  sight  of  the  beauty  of  Jesus  above, 

From  that  hour  they  would  cease  to  be  able  to  sin, 

And  earth  would  be  heaven,  for  heaven  is  love. 

"But  words  may  not  tell  of  the  vision  of  peace, 

With  its  worshipful  seeming,  its  marvelous  fires ; 
Where  the  soul  is  at  ease,  where  its  sorrows  all  cease, 
And  the  gift  has  outbidden  its  boldest  desires." 

"We  know  not  what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know  that 
when  He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him  for  we  shall 
see  him  as  he  is,"  the  King  in  his  beauty. 

But  there  are  other  influences  and  helps  that  we  can- 
not enumerate.  The  services  of  the  church,  the  sacra- 
ments, all  of  the  means  of  grace  that  we  enjoy,  are  among 
the  "All  things,"  that  are  designed  to  help  us  on  our  way. 

To  be  like  Him  is  the  final  goal,  the  object  to  be  at- 
tained. 

So  we  close  with  the  words  at  the  beginning  of  the 
chapter  with  a  few  added  :  Follow  after  charity,  and  grow 
in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  "Until  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  /Son  of  God  unto  the  perfect 
man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  statute  of  the  fullness  of 
Christ." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  new  motive  in  the  Divine  Life,  love  for  Christ.. 

''He  died  for  all  that  they  which  lived  should  not 
henceforth  live  unto  themselves,  hut  unto  Him,  which  died 
for  them  and  rose  again.''    (IlCor.  5  :15.) 

When  that  new  Hfe  enters  one  it  brings  with  it  new 
motives.  In  the  unrenewed  man  self  is  the  center  of  his 
thoughts.  Self  interest  is  the  object  of  his  pursuit.  In 
fact  some  moral  philosophers  affirm  that  all  violations  of 
the  divine  law  are  but  the  outworkings  of  the  spirit  of  the 
inborn  selfishness  of  human  na.ture.  To  a  certain  extent 
this  is  true.  But  there  would  seem  to  be  exceptions  to 
that  rule.  The  profane  swearer,  for  instance,  is  not  seek- 
ing his  own  good,  but  he  is  angry  with  God  and  wishes  to 
insult  him.  It  is  true  that  he  is  gratifying  a  wicked  pas- 
sion, but  it  would  seem  that  there  could  not  be  any  expec- 
tation of  good  to  himself.  But  in  general,  there  can  hard- 
ly be  a  violation  of  any  of  the  commandments,  except  the 
third,  that  cannot  be  traced  directly  to  self  love,  a  desire 
to  promote  self  interest.  When  a  stronger  motive  is  pres- 
ent, so  that  self  interest  does  not  control,  it  is  easy  to 
keep  the  commandments.  Such  a  motive  is  presented  by 
the  apostle  in  the  words  above.  One  of  the  best  evi- 
dences that  a  new  nature  has  been  imparted  is  the  pres- 
ence of  a  new  motive  power,  actuating  the  activities.  But, 
really,  the  best  way,  the  wisest  way,  in  which  to  seek 
happiness,  even  one's  own  well  being,  is  to  live  for,  to 
love,  to  labor  and,  if  need  be,  to  sacrifice,  for  some  person 
or  object  not  ourselves  and  not  connected  with  self  inter- 
est. Even  our  own  best  interests  are  to  be  obtained,  like 
pleasure,  by  indirection  and  not  as  an  object  of  direct 
pursuit. 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities  55 

But  if  one  is  to  develop  the  divine  life  by  the  exer- 
'■cise  of  a  new  motive,  that  motive  must  be  pure  and  its 
object  must  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  one  purer, 
nobler,  more  Godlike.  Such  an  object  is  declared  in  the 
apostle's  words  above  quoted.  We  should  live  for  him 
^vho  died  for  us  and  rose  again.  Christ,  the  God  man,  in 
whom  dwelt  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily.  He 
•who  left  the  mansions  of  glory,  humiliated  himself,  suf- 
fered, died  and  rose  again,  He  is  to  be  the  object  toward 
which  the  new  motive  would  impel  us.  Christ  says  *'I 
give  my  sheep  eternal  life."  He  imparts  to  us  of  his  own 
life  and  with  that  life  must  come  the  animating  principle 
of  that  life.  But  is  it  not  selfish  in  him  to  claim  such 
service,  such  devotion?  It  has  been  said  that  God  does 
not  seek  his  own  glory.  If  men  do  that  he  condemns 
them,  and  that  he  would  not  do  what  he  condemns  in  men. 
But  the  answer  is,  that  God  only  claims  that  which  right- 
ly belongs  to  Him.  If  men  seek  their  own  glory  they  are 
trying  to  get  what  does  not  belong  to  them,  it  all  belongs 
to  God.  So  in  the  working  for  self  merely,  and  ignoring 
the  claims  of  God  or  of  Christ,  who  is  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh,  we  are  robbing  God  of  that  which  is  his  due,  but  in 
robbing  him  we  impoverish  ourselves. 

*'Ye  have  robbed  me,"  says  God  to  Israel.  But  they 
were  ignorant  of  the  fact  and  ask  in  surprise,  ''Wherein 
have  we  robbed  thee?"  God  replies,  and  enumerates 
some  of  the  things  of  which  they  have  robbed  him.  "In 
tithes  and  offerings,"  and  so  on.  "Bring  ye  all  the  tithes 
into  the  storehouse,  that  they  may  be  meat  in  mine  house, 
and  prove  me  now  herewith,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  if  I 
will  not  open  you  the  windows  of  heaven,  and  pour  you 
out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall  not  be  room  to  receive  it." 

When  they  rendered  him  his  due  he  poured  out  his 
blessing  in  this  world,  both  temporal  and  physical.     But 


56  The  Divine  Life :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

this  is  only  an  illustration  in  the  material  world  of  a. 
principle  inherent  in  the  universe  of  the  unseen. 

One  cannot  cheat  his  neighbor  without  cheating  him- 
self a  great  deal  more  in  the  belittling  of  himself, 
robbing  himself  of  some  of  his  own  nobility.  We 
cannot  rob  God,  nor  Christ,  without  wronging  ourselves 
in  our  own  spiritual  natures  indefinitely  more.  And  I 
cannot  emphasize  too  strongly,  or  too  often,  the  fact  that 
the  spiritual  nature  is  the  man ;  all  else  is  but  the  append- 
age of  the  man.  A  wise  self  seeking  would  be  self  abne- 
gation. If  we  would  secure  all  of  the  riches  that  there 
are  for  us  in  the  infinite  store  house  of  God,  we  should 
not  henceforth  live  unto  ourselves,  but  unto  him  who 
died  for  us  and  rose  again. 

But  enough  of  this  as  a  reason  for  the  declaration 
of  the  apostle,  or,  as  we  might  say,  the  philosophy  at  the 
bottom  of  the  declaration. 

Salvation  is  not  simply  a  saving  from  the  statutory 
penalty  for  sin.  It  is  that  and  infinitely  more.  It  is  a 
state  of  heart,  a  new  life,  imparted  by  God  himself  to 
those  who  will  come  to  him.  But  how  shall  they  come? 
They  must  be  drawn  by  the  power  of  an  infinite  love 
manifested  by  an  uplifted  Christ,  bearing  our  sins  in  his 
own  body  on  the  tree.  As  iron  filings  in  a  heap  of  sand  or 
sawdust  respond  to  the  drawing  power  of  the  magnet,  so 
there  are  human  natures  among  the  masses  of  men  that 
respond  to  the  drawings  of  this  infinite  love.  And  as  mag- 
netism begets  magnetism,  so  love  begets  love,  and  this  is 
the  new  life,  for  God  is  love.  One  born  of  God  has  his 
nature.  What  love?  The  love  that  is  responsive  to,  and 
begotten  by,  the  love  of  God  manifests  in  the  flesh  to  make- 
an  atonement  for  sin. 

The  great  final  purpose  of  Christ's  death  was  to  plant 
this  new  motive — this  impelling  power  of  the  new  life — 
in  mankind.    Here  is  displayed  in  the  fulness  of  its  pow- 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  57 

er  the  moral  influence  of  Christ's  death.  Here  is  shown^ 
in  the  fulness  of  its  scope,  **The  expulsive  power  of  a  new 
affection."  Those  who  have  been  born  again,  and  have 
thus  been  made  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  are  no 
longer  selfish,  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto 
"Him  who  died  for  them  and  rose  again." 

Paul  affirms  this  to  be  the  force  that  impelled  him  on- 
to the  toils,  the  labors  the  sufferings  he  endured  in  the 
prosecution  of  his  work.  "For  the  love  of  Christ  con- 
straineth  us,"  he  exclaims ;  "For  Christ's  sake,"  is  the 
motive  clearly  defined  and  vigorously  enforced  by  him. 
"For  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord,  or  whether 
we  die,  we  die  unto  the  Lord,  whether  we  live,  therefore, 
or  die  we  are  the  Lord's." 

Christ  himself,  directly  or  by  implication,  speaks  of 
this  as  the  supreme  motive  that  should  control  his  follow- 
ers in  the  future.  He  speaks  of  himself,  his  love  for  the 
race,  and  the  reciprocal  love  for  himself  as  the  power  that 
in  the  future  should  influence  the  life  and  conduct  of  his 
followers.  Take  such  passages  as  these,  "Blessed  are  ye 
when  men  shall  revile  you  and  persecute  you,  and  shall 
say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  for  my  sake."  "Ye 
shall  be  hated  of  all  nations  for  my  names  sake."  "He 
that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it."  These  are 
a  few  of  the  words  in  which  he  prophesies  of  the  controll- 
ing motive  in  the  lives  of  his  followers.  They  should 
work,  suffer,  endure  for  his  sake. 

Love  is  the  great  motive  power  in  the  world.  Love 
of  wife,  husband,  children,  home  friends,  country  are 
the  nobly  inspiring  motives  of  every  true  man,  woman, 
friend  or  patriot.  Even  when  one  seems  to  be  moved  by 
hatred,  it  may  be,  after  all,  but  a  manifestation  of  a  su- 
preme self  love,  a  love  of  self  of  which  the  hatred  of 


58  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

others  is  but  the  reciprocal.  Love  to  Him  who  redeemed 
us  should  be  the  all  controlling  motive  in  those  who  know 
him.    It  was  such  with  Paul. 

He  speaks  of  this  as  the  controlling  power  in  his  life. 
He  supplicates  the  prayers  of  the  church  at  Rome,  for 
Christ's  sake.  He  says,  "We  are  fools  for  Christ's  sake." 
*'This  I  do  for  the  gospel's  sake."  "We  which  live  are 
a  servant  for  Jesus'  sake.  With  him  the  words  "for 
pleasure  in  infirmities,  in  reproaches,  in  necessities,  in  per- 
secutions, in  distresses  for  Christ's  sake."  He  became 
a  servant  for  Jesus'  sake.  With  him  the  words  "for 
Christ's  sake,"  "in  Christ's  name"  were  not  a  mere  form- 
ula, a  talisman  or  formula  to  conjure  by  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  something  for  himself.  They  were  but  the 
expressions  of  the  motive  that  ruled  his  life. 

This  is  the  motive  that  controls  God  in  his  conduct 
toward  the  penitent.  It  is  "for  Christ's  sake"  that  he 
forgives  sin.  Men  should  forgive  one  another,  "even  as 
God  for  Christs's  sake  has  forgiven  you." 

This  truth  is  strongly  set  forth  by  the  apostle.  It  is 
the  necessary  accompaniment  of  the  new  life. 

Consider  the  greatness  of  this  motive  in  its  obliga- 
tions and  inspiration.  The  apostle  speaks  of  it  as  the 
greatest  that  can  possibly  influence  men.  Christ  died  for 
all.  Elsewhere  he  reasons,  "For  we  thus  judge,  that  if  he 
died  for  all  then  were  all  dead."  The  reason  is  more 
plain  when  we  consider  that  the  word  "for"  is  used  in 
the  sense  of  "instead  of,  in  the  place  of"  and  not  simply 
for  their  benefit.  The  original  is  not  ambiguous.  It 
means  that  all  were  under  the  sentence  of  death,  that  in 
one  sense  all  were  dead.  But  instead  of  all  suffering  the 
death  penalty,  Christ  died  in  their  stead.  He  saved  our 
lives,  hence  our  lives  are  his ;  they  belong  to  him. 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  59 

If  a  man  is  drowning  and  another  one  saves  him,  he 
is  really  under  some  obligation  to  his  rescuer.  This  is 
particularly  true  if  the  rescue  has  been  at  great  peril  or 
suffering  to  the  rescuer.  The  obligation  increases  if  it 
were  a  sovereign  who  has  saved  a  subject.  What  sub- 
ject could  be  so  heartless,  so  ungrateful,  so  lost  to  all  of 
the  dictates  of  humanity,  as  to  not  render  obedience  to 
such  a  sovereign,  however  rebellious  he  may  have  been 
before?  That  ruler  would  have  a  new  claim  upon  that 
subject's  loyalty. 

The  claim  increases  in  strength  as  we  consider  the 
ruler  as  the  just,  the  wise,  the  powerful  ruler  whose  only 
object  is  to  increase  the  happiness,  secure  the  highest 
welfare  of  his  subjects,  while  his  wisdom  and  power  en- 
able him  to  accomplish  these  objects  perfectly.  The  fact 
of  his  saving  their  lives  would  be  a  powerful  argument 
in  favor  of  their  loyalty  to  him. 

Carry  this  illustration  to  the  extreme  of  infinite  wis- 
dom, good  will  and  power,  and  add  the  fact  that  he  not 
only  ran  great  risks  and  suffered  much,  but  that  he  act- 
ually died,  made  a  sacrifice  of  himself,  to  accomplish  this 
object,  and  we  have  an  illustration  of  the  case  we  are 
considering. 

He  died  in  our  stead  that  we  should  not  henceforth 
live  unto  ourselves,  but  unto  him  who  died  for  us  and 
rose  again.  He  died  in  our  stead ;  ought  we  not  to  love 
him?  He  is  our  lawful,  rightfvil  ruler;  ought  we  not  to 
serve  him  ?  He  is  our  Creator,  Benefactor,  Mediator,  Re- 
deemer; do  we  not  owe  him  our  allegiance?  He  seeks 
our  greatest,  highest  good ;  he  is  wise  enough  to  know  in 
what  that  good  consists ;  he  has  power  enough  to  ac- 
complish his  purposes.  Has  he  not  the  highest  claims  to 
the  service  of  our  lives? 


60  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

He  died  for  all.  All  are  provided  for;  all  who  will 
come,  may  come.  Could  there  be  a  greater  inducement 
to  any  desponding  soul,  struggling  for  victory? 

Again,  look  at  this  motive  in  its  nature  of  perfect 
purity.  Christ  died  to  pay  the  penalty  of  sin  objectively. 
He  died,  ''the  just  for  the  unjust,"  that  God  might  be  just 
and  yet  treat  as  just,  or  innocent,  all  who  would  come  to 
him  through  Christ.  But  he  came  to  save  men  not  only 
from  the  outward  consequences,  the  outward  penalty  of 
sin  but  from  sin  itself,  by  furnishing  a  higher,  purer  mo- 
tive for  our  lives  than  purely  selfish  ones. 

The  essence  of  nearly  all  sin  is  selfishness.  The  con- 
tinual temptation  is  to  yield  to  the  solicitations  of  a  sel- 
fish nature.  Men  must  be  saved  from  this  sin  if  they  are 
saved  from  any.  By  his  sacrifice  to  save  us  from  outward 
punishment,  he  furnishes  a  motive  outside  of,  beyond, 
above,  ourselves  that  can  provide  an  inward,  or  subjec- 
tive salvation.  And  this  condition  is  necessary  if  we 
would  enjoy  the  conditions  of  an  outward  salvation. 

While  living  to  ourselves  we  are  living  in  sin ;  while 
living  to  God,  we  are  living  in  righteousness.  It  is  thus 
that  Christ  died,  to  plant  this  motive  in  our  lives.  There 
are  thus  the  outward  and  the  inward  aspects  of  Christ's 
salvation.  The  outward  is  a  provision  to  set  aside  the 
penalty  oof  broken  law,  the  inward  is  the  preparation  of 
an  inward  fitness  for  salvation. 

The  Apostle  Paul  presents  a  great  motive  for  thus 
living,  living  for  Christ,  by  the  inspiration  of  love  in- 
duced in  us  by  his  own  infinite  love.  It  is  that  Jesus  has 
bought  us  with  his  own  blood  and  set  us  at  libery,  as 
he  often  uses  the  figure.  "Ye  are  not  your  own,  for  ye  are 
bought  with  a  price ;  therefore  glorify  God  in  your  body 
and  in  your  spirit  which  are  God's."  And  Peter,  exhort- 
ing his  readers,  says,  "As  he  who  has  called  you  is  holy 


The  Divine  Life  :    Its  Development  and  Activities         61 

SO  be  ye  holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation ;  because  it  is 
written  be  ye  holy  for  I  am  holy."  But  why  should  they 
be  holy?  He  explains,  ''Forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  ye 
were  not  redeemed  with  corruptible  things  from  your 
vain  conversation,  but  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  as  with  a 
lamb  without  spot  or  blemish."  And  the  beasts  and  elders 
in  the  Apocalyptic  vision  sang  praises  to  Jesus,  saying, 
"For  thou  wast  slain  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy 
blood  out  of  every  tongue,  and  kindred  and  people  and 
nation,  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God,  kings  and 
priests."  They  were  redeemed  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  and 
this  was  their  song  in  glory.  The  object  of  that  redemp- 
tion was  set  forth  by  Paul  to  Titus.  Speaking  of  the 
great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  he  says,  ''Who  gave 
himself  for  us  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniqui- 
ty and  purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of 
good  works." 

Such  righteous  living  can  be  achieved  only  by  the 
inspiration  of  that  love  that  is  induced  in  us  by  the  mani- 
fested love  of  Jesus.  That  is  the  source  of  all  true, 
righteous,  noble  living.  Nothing  else  in  earth  or  heavea 
can  supply  a  motive  strong  enough  to  overcome  the  im- 
pulses of  our  natural  selfishness.  And  what  a  wonderful 
power  there  is  in  this  motive  as  thus  set  forth. 

He  died  to  redeem  us.  A  poor  slave  woman  was  once 
purchased  by  a  benevolent  gentleman  and  set  at  liberty. 
Through  all  of  her  after  life  she  never  tired  of  sounding- 
his  praises.  She  spoke  of  his  greatness,  his  mercy,  his 
goodness,  his  benevolence.  Every  quality  that  she  con- 
sidered noble,  praiseworthy,  she  ascribed  to  him.  He 
was  her  theme  on  all  occasions,  in  all  places  and  at  all 
times. 

When  remonstrated  with  as  a  fanatic,  a  monomaniac 
upon  the  subject,  her  simple  and  only  reply  was,  "He 
redeemed  me."     That  was  enough  for  that  poor,  grate- 


62  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

ful,  soul  to  make  him  the  subject  of  her  talk  by  day  and 
of  her  dreams  by  night.  Christ  has  redeemed  us  not 
only  from  slavery,  but  from  death,  and  not  simply  from 
temporal  death,  but  from  death  eternal.  Should  we  do 
less  than  that  poor  woman? 

This  standard  of  life  in  Christ  becomes  a  test  for  our 
own  lives.  There  seems  to  be  a  great  deal  of  nominal, 
professed  Christian  living,  that  does  not  stand  the  appli- 
cation of  this  test.  If  we  are  living  to  make  money,  we 
are  not  living  for  Christ. 

We  do  not  live  for  Christ,  when  we  are  living  for 
pleasure,  for  office,  for  honor,  or  for  any  other  object 
that  terminates  so  immediately  upon  self.  We  may  not 
be  living  for  Christ  even  when  we  seem  to  be  most  ac- 
tively engaged  in  his  work.  We  may  be,  even  then,  more 
thoughtful  of  ourselves,  for  the  credit  we  may  get,  or  we 
may  be  working  for  our  own  domination  more  than  for 
Christ  and  his  cause. 

But  now  for  a  few  words  as  to  the  efficiency  of  this 
motive,  when  it  has  fairly  found  a  lodgment  in  the 
hearts  of  men.  It  has  been  the  moving  power  with  mul- 
titudes of  men  and  women,  and  they  have  performed 
wonders  for  the  betterment  of  this  old  world.  Look  at 
the  world  today,  and  contrast  it  with  what  it  was  when 
Christ  came  to  it.  All  of  the  characteristics  of  our  mod- 
ern civilization,  that  distinguish  it  -from  that  in  the  time 
of  the  Caesars,,  is  the  product  of  that  motive  working 
out  in  human  activity. 

The  inspiring  motive  in  all  of  the  self-sacrificing 
labors,  trials,  discouragements,  and  sufferings,  of  the 
missionaries  of  the  past  century  has  been  that  love, 
and  the  love  for  their  fellow  human  beings  for  whom 
there  could  be  no  help  but  Christ.  It  yet  remains  to  be 
seen  what  that  motive  can  accomplish  when  it  obtains 
its  full  control  in  the  hearts  of  men. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

''Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shall 
be  saved/' 

We  have  been  considering  at  some  length  the  God 
inbreathed  life,  the  principle  of  Eternal  Life.  We  may 
well  consider  now  how  it  is  to  be  obtained.  Adam  lost 
it  by  unbelief,  and  its  resulting  disobedience.  It  must 
be  regained  by  reversing  the  process,  believe  and  obey. 

The  prescription  given  by  Paul  and  Silas  to  the 
Phillipian  jailor  was  followed  and  produced  its  immedi- 
ate result.  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved."  The  effect  was  wonderful.  That  jailor 
was  a  hard-hearted,  cruel  man.  Men  for  that  position 
were  selected  from  the  class  that  were  most  inhuman,  so 
that  pity  would  not  interfere  with  execution  of  the  most 
cruel  sentence  from  which  a  humane  nature  would 
shrink  with  horror. 

He  had  incarcerated  Paul  and  Silas  in  the  inner  pris- 
on, and  made  their  feet  painfully  fast  in  the  stocks.  But, 
animated  by  the  life  that  was  in  them,  they  could  pray 
and  sing  praises  to  God.  But  what  could  they  praise 
God  for?  One  would  naturally  think  that  they  had  lit- 
tle occasion  for  praise  in  their  circumstances,  in  such  phy- 
sical pain  and  the  disgrace  of  being  prisoners.  They 
praised  God  for  the  life  that  was  in  them,  and  that  God 
had  imparted  to  them.  But  their  prayers  and  praises 
were  interrupted. 

''/Suddenly  there  was  a  great  earthquake,  so  that  the 
foundations  of  the  prison  were  shaken,  and  immediately 
all  the  doors  were  opened,  and  every  one's  bands  were 
loosed."  Every  one  knows  the  story.  The  jailor  was 
the  only  one  who  was  frightened.     He  had  reason  to  be. 


64  The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities 

He  was  responsible  with  his  Hfe,  for  the  safe  keeping  of 
those  committed  to  his  custody.  He  supposed  that,  of 
course,  the  prisoners,  now  that  there  was  nothing  to  hin- 
der them,  had  escaped.  He  would  take  the  execution  of 
the  sentence  that  he  knew  would  be  imposed  upon  him, 
into  his  own  hands.  He  drew  out  his  sword  and  would 
have  killed  himself  as  being  more  honorable  than  to  die 
at  the  hands  of  a  Roman  executioner.  But  Paul  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  ''Do  thyself  no  harm;  for  we  are  all 
here."  The  narrative  goes  on,  "Then  he  called  for  a  light, 
and  sprang  in,  and  came  trembling,  and  fell  down  before 
Paul  and  Silas,  and  brought  them  out,  and  said,  ''Sirs, 
what  must  I  do  to  be  saved?" 

But  what  did  he  know  about  salvation  or  of  the  fact 
that  he  needed  it?  The  example  of  his  prisoners  showed 
him  that  they  had  something  that  he  did  not  have,  and 
that  he  needed.  The  answer  is  recorded  above.  It  was 
simple,  straightforward,  perfect  plain.  The  jailor  be- 
lieved and  the  result  was  not  only  wonderful,  it  was  mi- 
raculous, as  coming  directly  as  an  act  of  God.  The 
change  was  instantaneous.  He  was  an  entirely  different 
man.  Not  simply  in  a  sense  that  is  often  understood 
when  some  change  in  the  outward  conduct  is  observed, 
but  in  his  spiritual  nature  and,  after  all,  that  is  what  con- 
stitutes the  man.  He  was  in  very  fact  a  different  man, 
for  a  new  nature  had  been  imparted  to  him ;  he  was  a 
new  creature.  And  that  new  nature  showed  itself  at 
once.  The  Divine  life  had  been  imparted  to  him  and  its 
activities  began  at  once.  Instead  of  being  the  hard-heart- 
ed, cruel  man  that  he  had  been,  delighting  in  torture,  he 
was  tender,  compassionate,  kind.  He  took  them  that 
same  hour  of  the  night,  and  washed  their  stripes,  and 
gave  them  food  and  to  the  limit  of  his  power  showed 
kindness  to  them. 


The  Divine  Life :     Its  Development  and  Activities  65 

This  incident,  so  simple  and  beautifully  recorded, 
illustrates  two  things  :the  simplicity  of  the  way  of  salva- 
tion, and  the  activity  of  the  new,  the  Divine  life,  that 
had  been  imparted  to  him.  He  simply  reversed  the  oper- 
ation by  which  Adam  lost  it;  he  believed  and  obeyed. 
The  result  to  our  first  parents  of  losing  that  life  was  fear 
and  trembling  when  God  appeared ;  the  results  of  its 
restoration  in  the  jailor  was  a  change  from  fear  and 
trembling  into  fervent  rejoicing,  and  acts  of  kindness  to 
two  of  God's  servants.  It  was  the  natural,  the  inevita- 
ble outworking  of  that  new  life. 

On  the  day  of  Pentecost,  Peter  preached  so  as  to 
convince  men  of  their  need  of  salvation,  and  to  persuade 
them  to  accept  it  upon  the  simple  terms  of  belief  in  him 
whom  they  had  crucified,  and  there  was  added  to  the 
church  in  one  day  three  thousand  souls.  The  same  re- 
sults followed  the  preaching  of  others  of  the  Apostles. 
It  seems  as  if  there  could  not  possibly  be  a  mistake  about 
the  way  in  which  this  salvation  is  to  be  obtained. 

But,  for  one  thing,  where  men  are  not  guilty  of  any 
outbreaking  sins,  they  are  not  conscious  of  their  need. 
And,  too,  they  may  not  realize  the  real  demerit  of  what 
they  have  done.  A  curious  incident  illustrates  this.  A 
friend  of  the  present  writer  was  once  staying  in  a  foreign 
city.  His  attention  was  attracted  to  a  man  who  every 
morning  came  into  the  lobby  of  the  hotel  and  silently 
read  very  carefully  the  papers  from  America.  One  day 
this  friend  was  summoned  to  visit  this  stranger  who  was 
reported  to  be  dying.  He  asked  him  what  his  prospects 
were  for  the  next  world,  and  he  said  that  he  expected  to 
go  to  heaven.  Being  asked  as  to  the  grounds  for  his  hope, 
he  replied  his  own  goodness.  He  never  had  done  any- 
thing very  bad,  but  had,  of  course,  been  guilty  of  some 
peccadilloes,  some  trifling  offenses  as  everybody  was  like- 
ly to  be.     Nothing  could  shake  his  confidence  in  his  own 


66  The  Dhine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

merit.  He  died  in  that  confidence,  leaving  some  mes- 
sages to  friends  in  America.  Inquiry  revealed  the  fact 
that  he  had  committed  offenses  against  the  law,  which, 
though  not  extraditable,  would  have  sent  him  to  prison 
in  this  country  and  so  he  remained  abroad.  This  may, 
and  does,  seem  to  be  an  extraordinary  case.  Really, 
however,  there  are  multitudes  who  have  no  better  grounds 
for  hope  than  that  man.  Yet  they  think  that  they  are 
good  enough,  without  the  humiliation  of  accepting  some- 
thing that  they  do  not  need.  It  is  only  as  men  are  con- 
vinced by  the  Holy  Spirit  that  they  realize  their  true  con- 
dition. One  of  the  functions  of  that  Spirit  is  to  con- 
vince of  sin  because  they  do  not  believe  on  Christ.  That 
vmbelief  is  the  great  sin,  the  mother  sin  of  all  sins.  Note 
the  words  of  Christ  in  that  wonderful  third  chapter  of 
John,  verse  18,  ''He  that  believeth  on  him  is  not  con- 
demned ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  is  condemned  already, 
because  he  hath  not  believed  in  the  name  of  the  only  be- 
gotten Son  of  God." 

The  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith  is  not  simply 
Paul's.  It  is  the  doctrine  that  Christ  himself  constantly 
taught.  The  "Dark  ages"  were  because  of  the  eclipse  of 
the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith. 

When  Luther,  while  crawling  on  his  hands  and  knees 
up  the  steps  in  the  Vatican,  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
truth  that  salvation  is  by  faith  alone,  he  sprang  to  his 
feet  and  a  new  era  dawned  upon  the  world,  the  era  of 
the  great  reformation.  Then  set  in  an  age  of  advance- 
ment, improvement  in  everything  that  pertains  to  physi- 
cal, intellectual  and  moral  improvement  that  has  made 
the  eighth  golden  age  of  the  world,  the  climax  of  all 
ages  since  men  have  inhabited  the  world. 

But  in  the  last  few  years  there  has  been,  and  is  now, 
a  great  current  of  thought  against  belief  as  a  source  of 
life.     This  current  of  thought  first  showed  itself  in  "the 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  67 

cry  against  creeds."  There  is  some  truth  in  that  cry 
where  creeds  are  drawn  out  to  minute  and  non-essential 
particulars  so  as  to  be  divisive  among  bodies  of  Chris- 
tians. The  great  movement  now  is  toward  bringing  to- 
irether  the  various  bodies  of  the  followers  of  Christ.  But 
we  must  never,  in  our  zeal  for  union,  ignore  the  terms 
which  Christ  himself,  either  directly,  or  through  the  in- 
spired vvriters,  has  laid  down. 

The  terms  laid  down  by  the  apostles  to  the  Phillipian 
jailor  are  very  simple.  In  accepting  them  the  jailor  ac- 
cepted them  with  their  entire  content,  and  which  was, 
doubtless  explained  to  him  so  far  as  was  necessary. 

But  unbelief  in  some  of  the  very  most  essential  things 
is  getting  to  be  so  common  that  it  is  necessary  to  draw 
out,  to  some  extent,  the  teachings  of  the  Author  of  our 
salvation. 

There  is  no  passage,  perhaps,  more  often  quoted 
than  John  3:16.  "For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  son  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life."  But  it 
is  so  often  forgotten  that  the  word  believeth  is  in  the 
passage.  But  it  is  there  and  the  only  condition  of  receiv- 
ing the  benefit  of  God's  gift  is  beheving  on  him.  What 
of  those  who  do  not  believe  on  him? 

Just  before  this  classic  passage  occurs  one  as  remark- 
able, and  one  in  which  the  vital  word  is  often  overlooked. 
"For  as  Moses  Hfted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness, 
even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up ;  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish  but  have  eternal  life." 
The  condition  is  again  believe.  Before  this,  John  1  :12, 
"As  many  as  receive  him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to  be- 
come the  sons  of  God  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his 
name."  Belief  is  the  vital  factor.  "He  that  believeth 
on  him  is  not  condemned ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  is  con- 


■68  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Dtvelopment  and  Activities 

demned  already,  because  he  hath  not  believed  in  the  name 
of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God."  Again,  ''He  that  be- 
lieveth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life;  and  he  that  be- 
lieveth  not  shall  no  :t  see  life ;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abid- 
eth  on  him." 

Jesus  staid  away  from  Bethany  until  Lazarus  was 
dead  so  that  he  might  perform  a  miracle,  *'To  the  in- 
tent that  ye  may  believe."  He  says  to  Martha,  "He  that 
believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead  yet  shall  he  live ; 
and  whosoever  liveth,  and  believeth  in  me,  shall  never 
die." 

When  asked,  "What  shall  we  do  that  we  jnight 
work  the  works  of  God,"  the  reply  of  Christ  was,  "This 
is  the  work  of  God  that  ye  believe  on  him  whom  he  hath 
sent."  It  is  believe,  believe,  believe,  all  through  the  gos- 
pels, and  the  Epistles  echo  the  same  word.  Toward  the 
close  of  John's  gospel  he  says,  "And  many  other  signs 
did  Jesus  in  the  presence  of  his  disciples,  which  are  not 
written  in  this  book :  but  these  are  written,  that  ye  may 
believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ;  and  that 
believing  ye  might  have  life  through  his  name."  The 
whole  of  John's  gospel  was  written  to  convey  the  truth 
that  salvation  is  by  faith.  But  faith  is  merely  belief,  and 
if  we  must  believe,  there  must  be  something  to  be  believed. 

Not  long  ago  an  influential  newspaper  man  remark- 
ed in  effect :  "When  will  people  know  that  true  religion 
does  not  depend  upon  any  scientific,  or  historical  fact?" 
But  a  religion  that  does  not  depend  upon  the  historical 
facts  of  Christ's  redeeming  work  is  not  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, nor  any  religion  of  saving   power. 

But  according  to  Christ  there  are  some  facts  recorded 
that,  it  would  seem,  must  be  believed.  Jesus  says  to  the 
Pharisees  and  those  gathered  with  them,  "If  ye  believe 
not  that  I  am  he,"  that  is  the  Messiah,  "Ye  shall  die  in 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  69 

your  sins."  Of  the  Messiah  it  was  written  that  he  should 
l)e  born  of  a  Virgin,  that  his  name  should  be  called  Won- 
derful, Councellor,  The  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting 
Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace.  If  they  did  not  beHeve  in 
him  as  such  they  did  not  believe  in  him  as  the  Messiah, 
Instead  of  believing  in  him  as  such,  they  accused  him  of 
blasphemy,  "for  making  himself  equal  with  God."  This 
he  most  unequivocally  claimed  to  be,  while  they  believed 
him  to  be  a  mere  man.  Read  the  history  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews  for 
evidence  whether  they  were  saved  for  this  world  or  not. 
None  of  those  who  accepted  his  claims  perished  in  that 
terrible  destruction,  for,  believing  in  him  they  believed 
his  words,  took  warning  from  the  signs  that  he  had  fore- 
told, and  fled  to  a  place  of  safety.  Not  one  Christian 
perished  in  that  catastrophe.  That  was  the  greatest  that 
had  ever  occurred.  Were  those  opposers  saved  for  the 
future  world  ?  Evidently  not ;  for  in  that  same  connec- 
tion he  told  them,  "Whither  I  go  ye  cannot  come." 

Note  his  denunciation  of  those  classes.  Yet,  they 
all  believed  that  there  was  such  a  man  as  Jesus,  they  be- 
lieved in  him  as  a  mere  man  like  themselves,  of  simply 
human  paternity.  Many  could  not  but  believe  that  he  was 
a  good  man;  and  the  only  fault  they  could  find  in  him 
was  expressed,  "yea,  but  he  deceiveth  the  people,"  in 
claiming  to  be  more  than  a  common  man,  and  trying 
to  convince  them   that   he   was   the   Messiah. 

They  not  only  believed  in  him  as  a  man,  but  they  ad- 
mitted that  he  performed  miracles,  too.  After  the  rais- 
ing of  Lazarus  we  read,  "Then  gathered  the  chief  priests 
and  the  Pharisees  a  council  and  said,  What  do  we?  for 
this  man  doeth  many  miracles.  If  we  let  him  alone  all 
men  will  believe  on  him."     (John  11 :47-48.) 

Instead  of  being  convinced  by  the  raising  of  Laz- 
arus from  the  dead,  that  Jesus  was  what  he  claimed  to 


70         The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

be,  ''they  consulted  that  they  might  put  Lazarus  also  to 
death ;  because  that  by  reason  of  him,  many  of  the  Jews 
went  away  and  believed  on  Jesus."  How  remarkably  they 
proved  the  truth  of  what  Jesus  said  in  the  parable  of 
Dives  and  Lazarus,  "They  have  Moses  and  the  prophets ; 
if  they  believe  not  them,  neither  would  they  believe  even 
if  one  should  rise  from  the  dead."  And  how  much  more 
wonderfully  was  that  truth  confirmed  when  he  himself 
rose  from  the  dead. 

None  of  them,  so  far  as  we  know,  ever  denied  the 
fact  of  his  miracles,  not  even  that  of  his  resurrection; 
but  that  did  not  convince  them.  Instead  of  being  con- 
vinced, "They  gave  large  money  to  the  soldiers,  saying, 
'say  ye  his  disciples  came  by  night  and  stole  him  away 
while  we  slept."  But  that  would  have  been  a  terrible 
admission  for  a  Roman  soldier  to  make.  The  death 
sentence  could  have  been  immediately  imposed.  There 
must  have  been  some  great  inducement  to  persuade 
those  soldiers  to  run  so  awful  a  risk.  But  they  were  re- 
assured, "And  if  this  come  to  the  governor's  ears,  we  will 
persuade  him  and  secure  you."  (Mat.  28:13,  14.)  Yes» 
they  most  decidedly  believed  in  miracles. 

They  were  also  compelled  to  admit  that  others 
wrought  them  in  the  name  of  Christ.  When  the  man, 
lame  from  birth,  was  healed  by  Peter  and  John ;  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  fact  was  rapidly  spreading,  and  win- 
ning adherents  to  their  cause,  these  same  scribes  and 
Pharisees, — the  religious  teachers — conferred  among 
themselves,  saying,  "What  shall  we  do  to  these  men?  for 
that  a  notable  miracle  has  been  done  by  them  is  manifest 
and  we  cannot  deny  it.  But  that  it  spread  no  farther 
among  the  people  let  us  straightly  threaten  them  that 
they  speak  henceforth  to  no  man  in  this  name." 

They  believed  many  things  concerning  Christ,  but^ 
evidently  their  belief  was  not  of  a  saving  character. 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  71 

Not  only  did  men,  wicked  men,  believe  many  things 
concerning  him,  but  demons,  also.  We  read,  "There 
met  him  two  possessed  with  devils  coming  out  of  the 
tombs,  exceeding  fierce,  so  that  no  man  might  pass  that 
way.  And  they  cried  out  saying,  'What  have  we  to  do 
with  thee,  Jesus  thou  Son  of  God  ?"  The  faith  of  demons 
went  farther  than  that  of  some  men,  but  they  did  not  ren- 
der him  due  obedience  as  their  Lord.  And  James  says, 
"Thou  believest  there  is  one  God,  thou  doest  well ;  the 
devils  also  believe  and  tremble."  Many  now  believe  that 
there  is  one  God,  but  that  Jesus  is  not  God. 

What,  then,  is  necessary?  When  Jesus  asked  his 
disciples  who  he  was,  Peter  answered  and  said,  "Thou 
art  the  Christ,  the  son  of  the  living  God."  Thomas  ex- 
claimed, "My  Lord  and  my  God,"  The  true  nature  of 
Christ  was  revealed  to  them.  "Blessed  art  thou,  Simon 
Barjona;  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto 
thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven,"  was  the  Sav- 
iour's declaration.  That  is  the  faith  that  complies  with 
the  condition  "As  many  as  believed  on  him,  to  them  gave 
he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  those  that 
believe  on  his  name." 

"Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved." 


CHAPTED  IX. 

''TJiy  word  have  I  hid  in  my  heart  that  I  might  not 
sin  against  thee.".    (Ps.  119:11.) 

The  "Word"  to  which  the  Psahnist  refers  is,  with- 
out doubt,  the  Old  Testament  scriptures  that  had  been 
written  up  to  that  time.  The  Psahii  from  which  the 
above  words  are  taken  is  a  wonderful  eulogium  upon 
that  word.  We  do  not  know  how  much  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament that  we  now  have,  was  in  existence  at  that  time ; 
but  any  additions  that  have  been  made  since  then  have 
only  added  to  their  value.  Of  the  Old  Testament  that 
we  now  have  Paul  writes  to  Timothy,  "From  a  child  thou 
hast  known  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make 
thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus." 

But  it  would  seem  almost  absurd  to  write  a  single 
chapter  upon  a  book  concerning  which  volumes,  libraries 
have  been  written.  That  "Word"  now  contains  not  only 
the  "Scriptures,"  to  which  the  apostle  refers,  but  the  New 
Testament  of  which  the  apostle  himself  wrote  so  large 
a  portion.  If  it  was  able  to  make,  "wise  unto  salvation" 
then  how  much  more  so  now. 

But  the  benefit  one  is  to  receive  from  it  depends  upon 
the  attitude  in  which  it  is  approached.  And  that  is  my 
apology  for  this  chapter.  Upon  that  attitude  depends 
whether  the  sacred  volume  is  to  be  a  savor  of  life  unto 
life,  or  of  death  unto  death.  So  a  consideration  of  that 
attitude  is  important.  For  many  years  it  has  been  grow- 
ing upon  me,  more  and  more,  that  the  Bibfe  was  written 
for  free,  moral  agents.  What  one  gets  from  it  depends 
upon  the  attitude  he  assumes  toward  it.  One  may  be 
many  years  with  the  Bible  and  yet  land  in  the  camp 
of  Thomas  Paine.    He  may  feed  upon  it  as  the  bread  of 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities  73' 

life,  and  become  as  near  being  a  saint  as  one  can  well  be 
in  this  life.  If  one  would  enter  the  kingdom  of  science, 
he  must  enter  it  upon  his  knees,  that  is,  he  must  bow  to 
the  authority  of  his  books  and  teachers.  With  reference 
to  science  the  writer  of  these  words  has  always  been  a 
little  independent  for  he  found  so  many  mistakes  and 
demonstrable  errors  that  he  has  to  use  his  own  judgment 
to  a  great  extent. 

But  entering  the  kingdom  of  God  one  must  bow  ab- 
solutely before  the  text  book,  the  Bible,  and  to  the  teach- 
er, the  Holy  Spirit.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  Bible  is  so  written  that  one  may  find  fault  with  it, 
quarrel  with  it,  criticise  it  if  he  chooses.  One  will  find 
difficulties  in  it  that  will  test  his  moral  attitude  toward 
it.  If  it  did  not  contain  such  it  would  not  be  adapted  to 
develop  moral  character,  for  it  would  require  no  exercise 
of  faith  in  it,  or  exercise  of  the  will  toward  it.  A  teach- 
er of  theology  once  remarked  to  his  class  that  he  had  lit- 
tle patience  with  a  student  who  did  not  find  difficulties 
in  the  book,  as  it  would  indicate  a  lack  of  observation. 

But,  as  may  appear  later,  the  difficulties  may  lie  in  a 
superficial  reading  when  a  more  careful,  critical  reading 
would  remove  them.  Still,  it  is  true  that  there  are  real 
difficulties ;  if  there  were  not,  as  has  been  before  observed, 
it  would  not  be  adapted  to  the  purpose  it  is  designed  to 
serve — the  development  of  moral  character.  One  cannot 
read  "The  Age  of  Reason,"  without  experiencing  a  kind 
of  subtle  power,  a  kind  of  Satanic  influence  emanating 
from  its  pages,  that  calls  for  the  strongest  exercise  of 
will  power,  and  the  help  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth  to  resist, 
and  keep  his  essential  faith  unshaken.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  many,  many  books  now  coming  from  our  nomin- 
ally, religious  teachers.  Sometimes  one's  safety  may  de- 
pend upon  the  fact  that  he  is  not  able  to  understand  the 
teachings,  or  their  drift,  to  be  really  influenced  by  them.. 


74  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

As  one  eminently  pious  and  useful  Christian  remark- 
ed that  he  did  not  know  enough  to  see  their  drift  or  be 
influenced  by  them.  But  it  is  too  sadly  true  that  many 
are  influenced  by  them. 

But  to  encourage  general  confidence  in  the  book 
there  are  outward,  or  objective,  evidences  of  its  truth- 
fulness. A  merchant  does  not  have  to  prove  the  correct- 
ness of  every  item  in  his  books  to  establish  his  claim  in 
some  particular  instance.  He  can  prove  his  books  by 
proving  that  some  of  the  entries  are  correct. 

So  to  prove  the  correctness  of  the  Bible  one  does 
not  have  to  prove  the  truth  of  every  individual  state- 
ment. We  may  believe  statements  in  the  Bible  that  v/e 
could  not  be  asked  to  believe  if  they  w^ere  only  in  some 
other  book.  President  Harper  was  once  asked  whether 
we  should  believe  the  contents  because  they  were  in  the 
Bible  or  believe  the  Bible  because  of  its  contents.  He 
replied,  both.    They  mutually  sustain  each  other. 

Among  these  objective  evidences  are  its  science,  its 
history,  its  ethics,  its  prophesy,  its  unity  and  harmony 
and  its  self  revealing  character.  These  are  some  of  the 
things  that  not  only  assure  its  general  truthfulness  but 
to  an  unbiassed  reader,  its  divine  origin. 

A  few  words  wath  regard  to  some  of  these  may  not 
be  out  of  place  to  assist  in  the  correct  attitude  toward 
it.  Its  science  of  cosmogony  is  correct,  though  few  ad- 
mit it.  It  is  of  such  a  nature,  too,  that  at  the  time  that 
it  was  written,  unaided  knowledge  could  not  have  per- 
ceived its  truth.  The  way  in  which  the  world  was  made 
must  have  been  revealed  by  its  Maker.  But  in  other  di- 
rections, when  men  have  been  in  the  search  for  truth  or 
knowledge  for  use  in  some  invention,  perhaps,  when  they 
could  get  some  definite  expression  from  the  Book,  they 
knew  that  they  were  on  the  right  track.     Its  Biogenesis 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities  75 

is  absolutely  in  harmony  with  the  records  in  the  rocks. 
It  is  only  when  one  puts  impossible  interruptions  upon  the 
records  in  the  rocks  that  they  find  trouble  with  Genesis. 

Its  history  is  being  constantly  confirmed  by  the  spade 
of  the  archaeologist. 

Its  ethics  are  the  base  of  everything  noble  or  truly 
useful  in  our  modern  civilization.  If  there  is  anything 
wrong  in  the  affairs  of  men,  it  is  because  its  ethics  are  not 
observed.  Closely  allied  to  this  is  the  way  in  which  some 
simple  seemingly  casual,  expression  is  seen  to  be  the  ex- 
pression of  some  principle  in  the  nature  of  things  that  is 
immutable  and  eternal.  For  example,  "Judge  not  that 
ye  be  not  judged,  for  with  what  judgment  ye  judge  ye 
shall  be  judged."  Is  that  a  simple  tit  for  tat  arrange- 
ment that  could  be  changed  by  authority?  No.  Our 
judgment  of  others  is  but  a  revelation  of  what  we,  our- 
selves are,  and  we  are  judged  by  what  we  are.  If  peo- 
ple but  realized  that  truth,  how  much  less  censoriouness 
there  would  be.  Many  other  such  instances  might  be 
mentioned  that  would  show  that  the  mind  of  the  writer 
must  have  been  illuminated  by  some  higher  than  human 
wisdom. 

Its  self  revealing,  too  would  seem  to  indicate  a 
more  than  human  origin.  A  missionary  was  once  trans- 
lating the  Bible  into  a  heathen  language.  He  had  a  na- 
tive helper  assisting  him  but  who  seemed  but  little  inter- 
ested until  he  came  to  a  passage  that  so  reflected  his  own 
inner  life  that  he  exclaimed  "The  one  who  wrote  that 
made  me." 

Incidently  we  may  note  that  there  are  passages  that 
at  first  sight  seem  "hard  to  receive,"  and  yet  when  un- 
derstood are  very  illuminating  and  helpful.  "Ye  shall 
not  eat  of  anything  that  dieth  of  itself ;  thou  shalt  give 
it  to  the  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates  that  he  may  eat 
it;  or  thou  mayest  sell  it  to  an  alien."    That  passage  was 


Id  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

once  quoted  in  a  discussion  as  against  the  ethics  of  the 
Bible.  At  first  I  was  nonplused  and  would  have  pre- 
ferred that  such  a  passage  had  not  been  put  in  the  book. 
But  when  it  was  understood  it  was  very  helpful  for  it 
shov/ed  that  Gentiles  were  not  under  the  Jewish  law, 
and  were  at  liberty  to  eat  anything  they  chose  so  far  as 
that  was  concerned.  Before  that  I  had  had  some  doubt 
as  to  the  right  to  eat  pork,  rabbits  or  anything  else  that 
was  prohibited  by  the  Mosaic  law.  But  that  passage  set 
all  such  doubts  aside.  That  law  was  for  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple and  for  the  Jewish  dispensation. 

Then  there  are  seeming  contradictions  that  arise 
from  a  careless  reading.  One  of  these  is  with  reference 
to  the  400  or  430  years  of  the  wandering  or  sojourning 
of  the  chosen  people.  Even  an  eminent  Christian  scholar 
and  commentator  declared  that  any  attempt  to  reconcile 
the  discrepancy  was  beneath  notice.  But  a  careful,  criti- 
cal reading  shows  that  there  is  no  difficulty,  no  discrep- 
ancy. God  tells  Abraham  that  his  seed  should  be  a 
stranger  in  a  land  that  was  not  theirs  for  four  hundred 
years.  Note  that  was  Abraham's  seed  that  should  do  this. 
But  'Tn  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called."  So  the  400 
years  refers  to  the  time  after  Isaac  was  born.  In  another 
place  we  read  the  ''sojourneying  of  them  that  sojourned" 
was  430  years.  But  Abraham  himself  was  a  sojourner 
with  all  his  family  for  thirty  years  before  Isaac  was  born 
so  that  there  is  no  discrepancy. 

I  should  naturally  be  inclined  to  speak  of  many  such 
instances  of  seeming  contradictions  but  will  not.  For 
myself  there  are  enough  such  instances  to  show  the  pos- 
sibilities in  others  that  have  not  yet  been  explained. 
There  may  be  many  that  never  can  be  removed,  but  just 
keep  them  in  abeyance,  until  light  dawns,  or  if  it  never 
does — well,  there  is  enough  truth  anyway  to  save  those 
who  believe. 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities  77 

The  fulfillment  of  prophesy  is  one  of  the  unimpeach- 
able evidences  of  Divine  inspiration.  Many,  very  many 
have  been  strictly,  literally  fulfilled.  But  in  general  they 
were  not  designed  to  gratify  a  curiosity  as  to  what  was  to 
be  in  the  future.  Much  of  it  may  be  in  the  same  spirit 
in  which  Jesus  speaks  to  his  disciples,  **And  now  I  have 
told  you  before  it  come  to  pass  that  when  it  is  come  to 
pass,  ye  might  believe." 

Prophetic  foresight  did  not  come  by  human  in- 
sight. "Prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man, 
but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

Again,  the  unity  and  harmony  of  the  Bible  are  such 
that  it  must  have  had  a  single  author.  Sixty  six  books 
written  by  many  different  penmen  during  fifteen  centu- 
ries and  yet  but  one  book,  with  vital  connection  between 
all  of  its  parts.  But  here  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote 
a  few  sentences  from  a  lecture  by  the  venerable  H.  L. 
Hastings  nearly  forty  years  ago,  and  circulated  by  the 
million  copies. 

"God's  word  declares  the  end  from  the  beginning.  It 
is  not  only  the  chart  that  guides  each  weary  wanderer  to 
his  own  eternal  rest,  but  it  is  the  record  of  the  great  plan 
and  purpose  of  the  Almighty  concerning  the  world  which 
he  has  made,  and  the  church  which  he  has  redeemed.  It 
unfolds  God's  everlasting  purpose,  as  manifested  in  Je- 
sus Christ;  and  if  one  reads  three  chapters  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Bible  and  three  at  the  end,  he  will  be  struck 
at  the  correspondence  which  there  exists." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Bible  we  find  a  new  world. 
"In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth."  At  the  end  of  the  Bible  we  find  a  new  world.  "I 
saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth ;  for  the  first  heaven 
and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away."    At  the  beginning 


78  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

we  find  Satan  entering  to  deceive  and  destroy ;  at  the  end 
we  find  Satan  cast  out,  ''that  he  should  deceive  the  nations 
no  more."  At  the  beginning,  sin  and  pain  and  sorrow  and 
sighing  and  death  find  entrance  to  the  world ;  at  the  end, 
there  shall  be  no  more  pain  nor  sorrow  nor  sighing,  and 
no  more  death.  At  the  beginning,  the  earth  for  man's 
transgressions,  is  cursed  with  thorns  and  thistles ;  at  the 
end,"  there  shall  be  no  more  curse,"  but  the  "throne  of 
God  and  the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it."  At  the  beginning  we 
find  the  tree  of  life  in  paradise,  from  which  the  sinner  is 
shut  away  by  a  flaming  sword,  lest  he  eat  and  live  for- 
ever; at  the  end,  we  find  the  tree  of  life  again  "in  the 
midst  of  the  paradise  of  God,"  and  the  blessed  and  blood 
washed  ones  have  a  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  "enter 
in  through  the  gates  into  the  city."  At  the  beginning  man 
was  brought  beneath  the  dominion  of  death  and  the 
grave ;  at  the  end,  "the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before 
God,"  the  sea  gives  up  its  dead,  and  death  and  hell  are 
destroyed  in  the  lake  of  fire.  At  the  beginning,  the  first 
Adam  lost  his  dominion  over  earth,  and  was  driven  out  of 
the  Garden  of  Eden  in  shame  and  sorrow ;  at  the  end  we 
find  the  second  Adam,  victorious  over  sin  and  death  and 
hell,  enthroned  as  King  and  Lord  of  all,  and  reigning  in 
triumph   and  glory   forever." 

Much  more  along  the  same  line  might  be  said  or 
quoted  from  that  address,  but  where  that  much  can  be 
said  it  must  be  a  book  of  more  than  human  origin. 

But,  as  before  remarked,  what  we  get  from  it  de- 
pends, greatly,  upon  the  attitude  with  which  we  approach 
it. 

Approaching  it  with  a  complaicent  reliance  upon 
their  own  wisdom  and  in  the  light  of  a  pseudo  sci- 
ence, men  have  been  lured  into  actual  infidelity. 

This  was  observed  some  years  ago  by  a  religious 
journal,  that  at  first,  at  least,  was  friendly  to  the  move- 


The  Divine  Life :    Its  Development  and  Activities         79 

ment.  As  it  says,  ''When  we  found  that  the  world  was 
more  than  six  thousand  years  old,  that  there  was  no  uni- 
versal flood  four  thousand  years  ago,  that  Adam  was  not 
made  directly  from  the  dust,  and  Eve  from  his  rib,  and 
that  the  tower  of  Babel  was  not  the  occasion  of  the  di- 
versification of  languages,  we  had  gone  too  far  to  stop. 
The  process  of  criticism  had  to  go  on  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation  with  no  fear  of  the  curse  at  the  end  of  the  last 
chapter.  It  could  not  stop  with  Moses  and  Isaiah ;  it  had 
to  include  Mathew  and  John  and  Paul.  Every  one  of 
them  had  to  be  sifted.  They  had  already  ceased  to  be 
taken  as  unquestioned,  final  authorities  for  plenary  in- 
spiration had  followed  verbal  inspiration  just  as  soon 
as  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  had  ceased  to  be  taken  as 
true  history.  The  miracles  of  Christ  had  to  be  tested  as 
well  as  those  of  Elijah.  The  date  and  purpose  of  the 
gospel  of  John  had  to  be  investigated  historically  as  well 
as  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah ;  and  the  conclusions  of  histor- 
ical criticism  had  to  be  accepted  with  no  regard  to  the 
old  theologies.  We  have  just  reached  this  condition,  and 
there  is  repeated  evidence  that  it  makes  an  epoch,  a  revo- 
lution in  theologic  thought.  To  this  present  teaching, 
which  has  invaded  all  of  our  denominations,  Jesus  is  the 
world's  prime  teacher,  but  it  can  assert  nothing  more. 
There  is,  it  declares,  no  reasonable  proof  of  his  birth  from 
a  virgin,  no  certainty  of  a  physical  resurrection ;  the  gos- 
pels must  be  anaylzed,  for  they  contain  mythical  elements, 
non-historical  miracles  unverified  assertions. 

But  this  doubt,  even  this  questioning  or  denial, 
changes  the  old,  evangelistic  theology.  It  questions  or 
denies  the  Trinity,  the  resurrection,  the  sacrifice  of  the 
cross,  even  all  miracles  and  it  undermines  all  authority  of 
inspiration  or  even  revelation,  and  sends  us  back  to  human 
reason,  with  such  divine  guidance  as  may  be  allowed ;  the 


80  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

authority  of  the  church  and  the  authority  of  the  Bible 
both  to  be  vahdated  only  by  human  reason." 

These  are  the  words  of  one  who  knew  whereof  he 
affirmed,  and  who  was,  at  least,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
movement,  in  sympathy  with  it. 

Surely  they  are  trying  to  take  us  back  to  'The  Age 
of  Reason." 

Let  Paul  make  a  comment,  "Where  is  the  Wise, 
where  is  the  Scribe?  Where  is  the  disputer  of  this 
world?  Hath  not  God  made  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this 
world?" 

But  to  revert  to  prophecy  as  one  of  the  evidences  of 
the  fact  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God  and  to  carry 
us  a  step  further.  Peter  says  ''We  have  also  a  more  sure 
word  of  prophecy ;  whereunto  ye  do  well  that  you  take 
heed  as  unto  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place,  until  the 
day  dawn  and  the  day  star  arise  in  your  hearts."  (II  Peter, 
1  :19.) 

Here  is  a  very  plain  declaration  that  all  of  the  out- 
ward, or  objective  evidences  of  the  truthfulness  of  the 
Word  are  mainly  designed  to  bring  us  to  it  so  that  we 
experience  within  ourselves,  the  Divine  reality  of  the  life 
giving  message.  They  are  what  we  may  call  the  subjec- 
tive evidences  of  the  truthfulness  of  the  Book. 

These  evidences  are  those  that  exist  within  the  soul 
itself  as  opposed  to  those  that  merely  appeal  to  it  from 
without.  They  are  the  result  of  its  own  experiences. 
They  appeal  to  the  consciousness  rather  than  to  the  in- 
tellect of  men.  In  conclusiveness  they  as  much  transcend 
the  merely  objective  evidences  as  the  facts  of  conscious- 
ness surpass  those  of  acquired  knowledge.  They  become 
an  integral  portion  of  the  soul  itself,  so  to  speak,  a  living, 
moving,  potent  energy  rather  than  an  inert,  external 
appendage.    They  have  their  basis  in  the  perfect  corres- 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  81 

pondence  between  the  motions  of  the  soul  that  is  in  abso- 
lute submission  to  God  and  the  evident  experiences  of 
the  scripture  writers.  They  are  the  verification  in  the  in- 
dividual experience  of  the  promise  of  Christ.  "If  any 
man  will  do  his  will  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine."  I 
may  say,  and  I  think  truly,  that  all  skepticism,  all  infi- 
delity in  the  world  would  be  done  away  if  men  would 
but  do  the  will  of  God.  In  this  respect,  doing  is  essen- 
tial to  knowing,  action  begets  knowledge. 

But  to  state  the  grounds  of  these  evidences.  The 
soul  of  man  now  may  be  in  such  an  attitude  toward  God 
that  it  may  know  that  it  has  communion  with  its  Maker. 
It  may  know  that  its  emotions  are  directed,  its  move- 
ments controlled  by  the  spirit  of  the  Most  High.  When 
the  soul  is  in  absolute  submission  to  God,  the  will  lost  in 
his  will,  when  the  hopes,  the  expectations,  the  desires,  all, 
everything,  is  lost  to  self  and  given  up  to  God,  he  redeems 
his  promise  'T  will  be  with  thee ;  I  will  comfort  thee ;  I 
will  strengthen  thee." 

Though  struggling  it  may  be  with  doubts  and  des- 
pondency the  promise  comes  ''My  grace  is  sufficient  for 
thee."  When  hungering  and  thirsting  for  the  bread  and 
water  of  life,  feeling  its  own  poverty,  the  invitation 
comes,  "Ho  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the 
waters,  and  he  that  hath  no  money,  come  ye,  buy  and 
eat.  Yea  come  and  buy  wine  and  milk  without  money 
and  without  price."  The  soul  knows  that  it  is  the  voice 
of  its  own  Creator. 

When  nearing  the  river  of  death  and  entering  the 
dark  vallely,  the  Lord  hardly  needs  to  tell  that  it  is 
Himself  who  says,  "I  have  redeemed  thee.  I  have 
called  thee  by  thy  name  ;  thou  art  mine.  When  thou  pass- 
eth  through  the  waters  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  through 
the   rivers   they  shall    not   overflow   thee."     Thou   wast 


82  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

precious  in  my  sight ;  I  have  loved  thee.     Fear  not  for  I 
am  with  thee." 

The  soul  may  know  the  voice  of  the  Holy  One  speak- 
ing to  it,  as  Christ  has  said  "i\Iy  sheep  know  my  voice." 
And  how  superfluous  are  the  intellectual  works  upon  the 
inspiration  of  the  Bible,  the  ponderous  tones  of  Christian 
evidences,  or  learned  volumes  of  apologetics,  or  Syrian 
discoveries,  or  tablets  exhumed  from  the  ruins  of  Baby- 
lon or  Thebes  or  of  any  of  the  other  "buried  cities"  to  the 
one  who  hears  and  knows  the  voice  of  the  risen  Sav- 
iour. But  all  of  such  things  are  of  value  as  guides  to  a 
personal  experience. 

When  one  with  a  resolution  equal  to  any  emergency 
determines  to  follow  the  truth  at  any  hazard,  his  path 
becomes  the  "pathway  of  the  just  that  shineth  more  and 
more  unto  the  perfect  day."  When  he  plants  his  feet  upon 
the  truth,  determined  not  to  be  shaken,  that  tfuth  becomes 
''The  Rock  of  Ages."  He  hardly  has  to  be  told  that 
there  is  a  pathway  of  the  just  or  a  Rock  of  Ages.  He 
feels  the  facts,  he  knows  them.  They  are  already  in  his 
consciousness.  But  when  the  outward  fact  meets  him  in 
the  scriptures,  he  knows  it  is  the  truth,  for  he  has  had  the 
foreshadowing  of  it  in  his  own  soul ;  or  rather  I  should 
say,  he  has  had  the  reality  of  it  in  his  soul  while  the 
Book  contains  its  record. 

A  very  great  deal  might  be  written  along  this  line, 
in  fact  a  whole  chapter  or  a  volume. 

It  is  these  evidences  in  one's  own  self  that  forms 
the  secret  of  the  Bible's  hold  upon  men.  It  is  not  so 
much  what  we  find  in  the  Bible  as  what  it  finds  in  us 
that  makes  us  believe  that  it  is  the  word  of  God.  The 
correspondence  between  the  motions  of  the  soul  and  those 
same  motions  as  recorded  in  the  Bible  show  that  the 
same   Spirit  that  stirs  the   soul  now  breathed  into  the 


TJie  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities         85 

writers  of  the  Book,  Philosophers  may  philosophise, 
critics  may  criticise  and  skeptics  may  doubt  but  the  soul 
may  know  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God.  Perhaps  no 
single  soul  can  in  its  experience  embrace  more  than  a 
small  part  of  the  Bible  truth  but  it  can  grasp  enough  to 
know  that  the  whole  is  true. 

But  I  would  repeat  that  I  do  not  undervalue  the 
outward  evidences  of  its  truth  but  they  are  as  "a  light 
that  shineth  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn  and  the 
day-star  arise  in  your  hearts." 

We  cannot  reverence  this  book  more  than  our  Sav- 
iour did.  We  cannot  place  a  higher  estimate  upon  it  than 
some  of  the  New  Testament  writers  who  declare  "This 
was  done  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  that  was  spoken  of 
by  the  prophets." 

''Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet  and  a  light  unto 
my  path,"  to  the  Heavenly  city,  to  the  New  Jerusalem. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Sabbath  Was  Made  For  Man  : — Jesus. 

''Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy,"  (Ex- 
odus 20:8.) 

The  declaration  above,  while  in  the  first  instance  de- 
signed to  affirm  that  man  himself  was  of  more  consequence 
than  any  of  the  institutions  created  for  his  use,  neverthe- 
less contains  a  greater  truth  than  appears  upon  the  sur- 
face. It  is  almost,  if  not  quite  universally  considered  to 
apply  to  the  physical  man,  and  to  him  only.  Almost  all 
that  is  ever  said  or  written  upon  the  subject  has  refer- 
ence to  the  need  of  the  physical  man  for  rest.  The 
thought  seems,  too  much,  to  be  that  of  the  boy  going  to 
a  Sunday  base  ball  game.  When  told  that  Sunday  was  a 
day  of  rest,  replied,  'T  do  not  need  any  rest,"  so  of 
course  as  he  did  not  need  physical  rest  there  was  no  use 
of  his  observing  the  day.  Perhaps  that  if  he  had  obeyed 
the  part  that  says  ''Six  days  shalt  thou  labor"  there 
would  have  been  more  need  for  his  resting  on  the  sev- 
enth. 

But  the  thought  that  I  have  intended  to  convey 
all  along,  is  that  the  man  is  more  than  the  physical  body. 
The  material  body  is  but  an  appendage,  attached  to  the 
real  man  for  a  specific,  but  temporary  purpose.  When 
that  purpose  has  been  attained,  the  body  is  sloughed  off 
as  the  hairy  skin,  the  legs  and  even  the  head  of  the  cat- 
erpillar is  cast  off  when  the  chrysalis  is  formed  to  emerge 
in  a  more  perfect  form  as  a  butterfly.  So  the  human  body 
is  of  only  temporary  use  and  when  that  has  been  accom- 
plished, it  is  laid  aside,  but  the  man  himself,  in  the  en- 
tirety of  his  being,  remains  after  the  body  has  returned 
to  "The  earth  as  it  was." 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  85 

It  was  for  man  in  that  sense  that  the  Sabbath  was 
made  and  there  is  the  most  conclusive  evidence  that  it 
was  made  when  man  was  made.  Its  importance  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  other  commandments,  justifies  a 
more  extended  consideration. 

In  this  connection  the  first  inquiry  naturally  is,  was 
there  such  an  institution  before  the  time  of  Moses?  My 
own  conclusion  most  certainly  is  that  there  was.  Note 
the  presumptive  evidence  in  the  law  itself.  Every  com- 
mandment in  the  decalogue  is  but  the  expression  in  words 
of  an  eternal  principle,  inherent  in  the  very  nature  of 
things.  It  is  not  wrong  to  commit  murder  simply  and 
only  bacause  the  law  says  "thou  shalt  not  kill."  The  law 
says  that  because  it  was  and  always  had  been  wrong  to 
commit  murder,  as  the  'Savior  interprets  the  law.  Cain 
knew  that  it  was  wrong  when  he  killed  his  brother.  It 
was  wrong  to  dishonor  parents  before  the  law  was  given 
on  Sinai.  The  sons  of  Noah  knew  that.  It  was  wrong  to 
have  or  worship  other  gods  than  God.  The  inhabitants 
of  Sodom  knew  that  as  well  as  that  other  one  about  adul- 
tery. Those  commandments  were  written  in  the  very 
constitution  of  man,  the  very  constitution  of  nature.  So 
of  all  of  the  commandments  of  the  Decalogue,  except 
the  fourth  if  that  be  an  exception.  Probably  it  is  not, 
though  the  principles  involved  are  more  recondite  than 
those  in  the  other  nine.  All  of  them  have  the  same  penal- 
ty, the  terrible  death  penalty  attached,  either  by  direct 
statutory  enactment  or  by  example.  So  the  principle  in 
nature  requiring  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  may  be  more  re- 
condite than  those  underlying  the  other  nine,  but  it  is 
there.  Not  simply  because  his  physical  nature  requires 
rest  but  because  the  man  himself,  his  spiritual  nature  re- 
quires it  even  more.  But  with  reference  to  his  physical 
nature  alone  the  value  of  a  conscience  bound  day  of  rest 
has  never  been  fully  appreciated. 


86  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

But  we  pass  from  presumptive  to  Biblical  evidence. 
The  word  shabua  (weeks)  is  used  to  designate  a  period 
of  either  seven  weeks  of  days  or  of  seven  years.  The 
weeks  of  Jacob,  (Gen.  29:27-28)  may  mean  either.  He 
had  fulfilled  Leah's  week  of  years  and  they  had  begun  the 
wedding  feast  of,  probably  seven  days,  and  it  would 
seem  that  Rachel  was  given  him  at  that  time.  But  how- 
ever that  may  be,  the  word  is  confined  to  its  mean- 
ing of  seven  days  in  every  instance  until  we  come  to  the 
book  of  Daniel,  and  it  seems  to  be  used,  too,  as  if  the 
Israe!-tes  were  familiar  with  that  division  of  time.  That 
Daniel,  in  his  prophecy  of  the  seventy  weeks,  uses  it  to 
denote  a  period  of  seven  years  is  very  apparent  for  when 
he  wishes  to  express  days,  he  modifies  **shabua"  by  the 
word  "ganim,"  as  (Daniel  10:2)  "I  was  mourning  three 
full  weeks,"  he  says  "shabua  ginim."  So  in  other  places 
where  he  wishes  to  express  a  week  of  days. 

But  to  come  directly  to  the  Sabbath  in  Exodus.  The 
manna  was  given  at  least  two  weeks  before  Moses  went 
up  Mount  Sinai.  In  fact  it  was  two  weeks  before  the 
congregation  reached  that  camp  for  the  manna  began  on 
the  fifteenth  day  of  the  second  month  (Exodus  16:1) 
and  they  reached  Sinia  in  the  third  month,  probably  on 
the  first  day  (Exodus  19:1.)  After  that  Moses  was  in 
the  mount  "forty  days  and  forty  nights"  (Exodus  24: 
18.)  It  may  have  been  some  days  more  before  he  finally 
gave  out  the  law  as  he  had  received  it.  The  point  is  that 
the  manna  was  given  at  least  two  months  before  the  deca- 
logue was  promulgated  and  yet  from  the  very  first  the 
people  were  forbidden  to  gather  it  on  the  seventh  day. 
Then  when  the  law  came  it  said  "Remember,"  evidently 
an  institution  with  which  they  were  familiar. 

And  miraculous  events  occurred  to  confirm  the  sa- 
credness  of  the  day.    They  were  to  gather  the  manna  six 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities         87 

days  but  not  on  the  seventh.  They  were  to  gather  an 
■omer  per  person.  It  was  to  be  measured  and  if  any  had 
gathered  much  there  was  nothing  over,  and  he  that  had 
gathered  Httle,  had  no  lack.  If  any  one,  fearing  that  the 
supply  would  fail,  gathered  for  the  morrow,  the  surplus 
bread  worms  and  stank.  But  on  the  sixth  day  they  were 
to  gather  for  two  days  and  it  kept  sweet,  for  the  seventh 
day.  Whether  at  this  time  or  not,  God  showed  his  es- 
timate of  the  sacredness  of  the  day  by  ordering  a  man  to 
be  put  to  death  for  wantonly  desecrating  it  by  gathering 
sticks  on  that  day.    It  may  or  may  not  have  been  later. 

But  further  than  this  we  have  extra  Biblical  accounts. 
There  are  evidences  that  it  existed  in  all  of  the  great  na- 
tions of  the  earth  long  before  the  time  of  Moses.  It  was 
observed  in  Egypt  and  Assyria  long  before  the  giving  of 
the  law.  Within  the  last  few  years,  comparatively,  (in 
1869)  tablets  have  been  found  in  Assyria  among  which 
is  an  Assyrian  religious  calendar  in  which  the  month 
was  divided  into  four  weeks  and  the  seventh  days  were 
marked  out  as  days  on  which  no  work  was  to  be  done. 

A  Chaldean  account  of  creation  has  been  discovered 
which  confirms  the  statement  that  the  Sabbath  was  coeval 
with  creation.  Other  tablets  have  been  found  that  have 
an  account  of  the  Sabbath  and  which  were  written  in  a 
language  that  became  extinct  two  hundred  years  before 
the  time  of  Moses. 

From  these  inscriptions  we  find  that,  according  to  a 
recent  writer,  the  most  ancient  nations  had  views  of  the 
Sabbath  so  closely  resembling  those  of  the  Assyrians, 
that,  nothing  can  account  for  the  resemblance  but  com- 
mon origin  or  a  common  inspiration,  either  of  which 
would  prove  it  divine. 

Further  than  this,  in  the  imperial  almanac  of  China, 
there  is  a  particular  character  found  recurring  through- 


88  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

out  the  year  on  every  seventh  day.  That  day,  strangely- 
enough,  corresponds  to  our  Sunday.  This  character 
which  is  no  longer  in  common  use,  is  explained  in  their 
dictionaries  to  mean  ''secret"  or  "closed."  It  has  been 
there  from  time  immemorial,  but  no  one  knows  how  it 
got  there,  still  it  is  an  unmistakable  evidence  of  a  Sab- 
bath observed  until  they  lost  it  by  profaning  it. 

Evidences  that  have  been  buried  for  centuries  are 
being  found  that  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man  and 
when  man  was  made,  and  that  it  will  exist  as  long  as  there 
are  beings  who  need  it. 

But  enough  of  this  for  the  present. 

There  are  probably  few  who  do  not  acknowledge  the 
perpetual  obligation  of  the  Sabbath.  One  question  now 
is  what  day  we  are  to  observe  as  such. 

Incidentally  we  may  say  that  in  no  two  degrees  of 
longitude  can  we  keep  precisely  the  same  day.  When 
Christian  missionaries  are  keeping  the  first  day  of  the 
week  in  Persia  or  Eden,  a  part  of  that  day  is  the  sev- 
enth day  here.  On  one  side  of  the  180th  meridian  they 
might  be  keeping  the  seventh  day  while  a  few  miles  fur- 
ther west  the  same  day  would  be  the  first  day  of  the 
next  week. 

Christianity  is  a   world  wide  religion  and  must  be 
adapted  to  all  lattitudes  and  longitudes.     Still,  though 
we  cannot  have  precisely  the  same  day  in  all  longitudes, 
yet  in  each  locality,  we  should  have  one  day  in  seven  to" 
observe  as  holy. 

It  is  very  evidently  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  same 
successive  seventh  day  has  been  observed  from  creation 
down  to  the  Christian  era.  In  the  time  of  Abraham  every 
lunar  month  was  begun  with  a  Sabbath.  Even  the  inter- 
callary  months  could  not  wholly  correct  the  irregularity 
so  but  that  some  weeks  would  be  longer  than  others.    So 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  89 

the  regular  succession  of  seven  day  periods  would  be 
broken  up. 

Again,  it  is  evident  that  the  seventh  day  after  the 
Exodus  was  not  the  same  as  that  of  Abraham,  for  that 
day,  passing  down  the  line  of  Ishmael's  descendants  to 
the  Saracens  is  now  kept  by  the  Mohammedans  as  a  Sab- 
bath, and  that  day  is  Friday.  The  enthusiast  who  would 
try  to  get  the  Jews  to  return  to  the  religion  of  Abraham 
would  have  to  Sabbathize  him — get  him  to  change  his 
Sabbath  from  Saturday  to  Friday  as  a  Sabbath. 

All  Jews  who  are  converted  to  Mohammedanism  have 
to  change  their  Sabbath  from  Saturday  to  Friday,  just 
as  Christians  who  revert  to  Judaism  change  from  Sunday 
to  Saturday. 

This  change  was  evidently  made  at  the  time  of  the 
Exodus  to  commemorate  the  fact  that  God  had  delivered 
his  people  from  the  land  of  Egypt. 

At  the  creation  God  established  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath  to  supply  a  need  of  man's  spiritual  nature  and 
to  commemorate  the  fact  that  God  had  made  the  world. 
At  the  Exodus  a  change  of  the  day  was  made  to  com- 
memorate the  additional  fact  that  He  delivered  them  from 
their  bondage  in  Egypt.  At  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
another  change  was  made  to  commemorate  the  still  addi- 
tional fact  that  the  infinitely  greater  work  of  man's  re- 
demption had  been  accomplished. 

But  the  question  now  arises,  by  what  authority  was 
this  last  change  made?  The  answer  is,  it  was  made  by 
the  same  authority  that  repealed  the  law  of  tithes,  of 
sacrifices,  of  purifications  and  many  other  things  that 
even  Sabbattarians  do  not  now  consider  binding. 

But  it  is  sometimes  urged  that  the  decalogue  has  a 
unique  force  as  it  was  written  by  God  himself.  But  so  far 
as  there  is  force  in  that  fact  it  only  enforces  the  eternal 
principle  there  expressed. 


90  The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

The  day  was  changed  by  competent  authority.  The 
Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath  day.  This  dec- 
laration was  made  by  our  Saviour  in  defense  of  his  action 
in  breaking  down  a  superstitious  observance  of  the  day. 
He  had  the  power  to  change  the  day  or  to  invest  others 
with  that  authority. 

This  he  did  when  he  gave  his  disciples  a  general 
power  of  attorney  to  estabHsh  the  Christian  church  with 
all  of  its  necessary  institutions.  (See  Mat.  16:19.) 
''Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in 
heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall 
be  loosed  in  heaven." 

The  disciples  were  granted  wisdom  from  on  high, 
were  endued  with  the  Holy  Spirit  so  that  whatsoever 
they  did  would  be  right  because  they  would  desire  to  do 
nothing  but  what  God  wished  to  have  done.  So  their 
acts  in  releasing  men  from  some  of  the  burdens  of  the 
Jewish  ritual,  or  enjoining  other  things  to  be  done  would 
meet  with  God's  approval. 

They,  by  their  precept  or  example,  loosed  the  grip 
of  the  ceremonial  law  and  did  away  with  the  rite  of  cir- 
cumcision, sacrifices,  burnt  offerings,  the  temple  ritual, 
the  priesthood,  the  observance  of  new  moons,  the  annual 
feasts  that  had  been  established  by  God  himself,  the  cere- 
monial purifications,  to  hear  the  matter  of  lawful  and  unlaw- 
ful meats,  and  all  of  "the  carnal  law  of  ordinances," as  the 
apostle  calls  them.  Paul  says  that  Christ  did  this  but  it 
was  mainly  by  the  authority  that  he  gave  the  Apostles. 
See  what  Peter  and  the  other  disciples  did  when  the  con- 
troversy arose  in  Antioch.  There  were  Judaizers  in  An- 
tioch  who  insisted  that  all  Gentile  converts  should  keep 
the  seventh  day,  be  circumcised,  observe  the  feasts  and 
sacrifices  and  so  of  all  the  Jewish  ritual.  Paul  contended 
that  they  were  "loosed"  from  such  observances.  So  he, 
with  delegates  from  that  church  went  to  Jerusalem  and  in 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  91 

the  council  there  held,  Peter  sided  with  him  and  James, 
the  presiding  officer,  announced  the  decision  in  accord- 
ance with  the  views  of  Peter  and  Paul.  The  decision 
was  that  the  old  law  in  such  matters  was  not  binding. 

But  Paul  always  found  Judaizers  to  contend  with. 
The  church  in  Colossae  was  exercising  its  Christian  lib- 
erty when  Judaizers  began  disturbing  its  peace  and 
Paul  wrote  "let  no  man  judge  you  in  meat  or  in  drink  or  in 
respect  of  an  holy  day  or  of  the  new  moons  or  of  the 
Sabbath  days ;  which  are  a  shadow  of  things  to  come." 
The  Jewish  Sabbath  was  but  a  type  or  shadow  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath. 

The  law  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath  was  evidently  loosed 
when  Paul  wrote  to  the  Romans  (14:1-6)  Him  that  is 
weak  in  the  faith  receive  ye,  but  not  to  doubtful  dispu- 
tations. One  man  esteemeth  one  day  above  another; 
another  esteemeth  every  da}^  alike.  Let  every  man  be 
fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.  He  that  regardeth  the 
day,  to  the  Lord  he  regardeth  it;  and  he  that  regardeth 
it  not,  to  the  Lord  he  doth  not  regard  it. 

To  the  Galations  he  wrote  (4  :9-ll.)  "But  now  after 
you  have  known  God  or  rather  are  known  of  God,  how 
turn  ye  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  elements  whereunto 
ye  desire  again  to  be  in  bondage.  Ye  observe  days  and 
months  and  times  and  years."  He  refers  to  the  Jewish 
customs  to  which  they  were  returning  after  they  had 
been  emancipated  from  them. 

But  now  for  some  of  the  evidences  that  the  day  was 
changed  from  the  last  to  the  first  day  of  the  week. 

Christ  arose  on  that  day.  He  visited  the  disciples 
on  that  day  or  the  following  Sunday.  Pentecost  was  on 
Sunday.  Later  Paul  wrote  to  the  Corinthians,  "Now  con- 
cerning the  collection  for  the  saints,  as  I  have  given  or- 
ders to  the  churches  in  Galatia,  even  so  do  ye.  Upon  the 
first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in 


92  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

store,  as  God  hath  prospered  him  that  there  be  no  gath- 
erings when  I  come."  This  shows  that  their  gatherings 
were  on  the  first  day  of  the  week. 

Paul  was  in  Troas  seven  days  and  yet  it  was  only 
on  the  first  day  that  "When  they  were  come  together  to 
break  bread,  Paul  preached  to  them  ready  to  depart  on 
the  morrow."  The  first  day  was  the  day  on  which  they 
came  together  for  worship  and  to  celebrate  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  apostle  John  was  *Tn  the 
Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day"  and  the  revelation  was  given 
him  on  that  day. 

But  we  cannot  stop  for  all  of  the  evidence  that  there 
is  at  hand.  Passages  in  Ezekiel  and  the  Psalms  are  inter- 
preted as  presaging  the  change  from  the  seventh  to  the 
first  day  of  the  week. 

The  change  was  made  in  the  time  of  the  apostles. 
Ignatius,  who  was  a  pupil  of  John,  says  that  those  who 
have  come  to  the  newness  of  hope,  no  longer  keep  the 
Jewish  Sabbath  but  observe  the  day  on  which  the  Lord 
arose.  Barnabas,  a  companion  and  friend  of  Paul, 
teaches  the  same  truth. 

A  writer  of  the  Jewish  talmud  speaks  of  the  Lord's 
day  as  the  Christian's  day  and  defines  the  name  Nazarine 
or  Christian  as  being  a  follower  of  the  man  who  com- 
manded that  the  first  day  of  the  week  should  be  a  holy 
day. 

This  is  the  day  that  the  people  of  the  Lord  observe 
as  holy  according  to  the  writer  of  the  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews. It  is  not  only  Sabbath  but  **Sabbatismos,"  a  Sab- 
bath keeping.  It  seems  not  so  much  enjoined  by  law  as 
a  voluntary  heartkeeping  of  the  day  "the  Lord  arose." 

With  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served, there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  inflexible  rule  laid 
down  under  penalty,  as  in  the  case  of  Jewish  Sabbath. 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  93 

But  one  thing  is  certain,  if  one  really  loves  the  Christ 
and  desires  to  grow  in  Christ  likeness,  he  will  observe 
the  day  as  sacredly  as  possible. 

Farther  than  this,  while  our  complex  modern  civil- 
ization renders  much  more  work  of  necessity  or  mercy 
necessary  than  in  simpler  conditions,  it  is  probably  true 
that  a  needless  desecration  of  the  day  that  weekly  com- 
memorates the  resurrection  of  our  Lord,  deeply  grieves 
the  One  who  died  to  save  us  and  is  as  offensive  to  God  as 
the  one  that  was  punished  with  death  at  Sinai. 

"Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy"  for  the 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man  in  the  highest  sense  of  the 
term  in  his  spiritual  as  well  as  his  physical  nature. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Some  Thoughts  on  The  Second  Coming  of  Christ. 

''If  I  go  away,  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto 
myself r    (John  14:3.) 

A  consideration  of  this  much  discussed  subject  may 
be  in  place  in  connection  with  the  final  activities  of  the 
Divine  life. 

Some  ideas  upon  this  subject  are  evidently  mista- 
ken. One  of  these  is  as  to  his  present  mode  of  existence. 
We  have  heard  it  stated  that  now,  somewhere  in  this 
physical  universe,  he  exists  in  the  physical,  material  body 
that  he  wore  while  on  the  earth  before.  It  is  affirmed 
that  he  never  left  it  off,  that  he  ascended  to  heaven  in  it 
and  now  inhabits  it,  and  that  he  will  visit  the  earth  again 
in  it.  This  is,  evidently  a  mistaken  idea.  The  proto 
martyr  Stephen  saw  him  "Sitting  on  the  right  hand  of 
God."  He  was  probably  not  in  his  material  body.  But 
however  that  may  be,  Saul  saw  him  while  on  his  way  to 
Damascus  and  it  was  not  in  the  material  body.  He  was 
the  shekinah  cloud  and  heard  him  speak.  "Saul,  Saul,  why 
persecutest  thou  me?"  In  answer  to  his  question,  "Who 
art  thou  Lord,"  the  reply  was  "I  am  Jesus  whom  thou 
persecutest."  The  apostle  John  also  saw  him  when  he 
was  on  "the  isle  called  Patmos,"  but  it  was  not  in  the  ma- 
terial body.  The  narrative  states  that,  "His  head  and  his 
hairs  were  as  white  as  wool,  as  white  as  snow ;  and  his 
eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire;  and  his  feet  like  unto  fine 
brass,  as  if  they  burned  in  a  furnace;  and  his  voice  as 
the  sound  of  many  waters.  And  he  had  in  his  right 
hand  seven  stars ;  and  out  of  his  mouth  went  a  sharp 
two-edged  sword ;  and  his  countenance  was  as  the  sun 
shineth  in  his  strength." 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  95 

And  to  assure  the  apostle  still  further  as  to  his  per- 
sonality he  assures  him  **I  am  he  that  liveth  and  was 
dead ;  and  behold  I  am  alive  f  orevermore,  Amen ;  and 
have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death."  He  certainly  did  not 
wear  the  robe  of  flesh  he  wore  while  on  earth.  It  was 
more  like  that  he  wore  before  his  incarnation  when 
Isaiah  saw  him  "as  the  Lord  sitting  upon  a  throne,  high 
and  lifted  up,  and  his  train  filled  the  temple','  and  so  on 
giving  such  a  magnificent  description  of  his  glory  and 
majesty. 

But  we  may  dwell  more  upon  this  in  another  place. 

Another  misconception  seems  to  be  regarding  the 
dignity  of  the  flesh.  Was  it  an  honor  for  him  to  leave  his 
heavenly  abode,  suffer  the  humiliation  of  being  made 
like  unto  a  man  with  the  limitation  accompanying  such 
a  body?  Christ  himself  evidently  considered  that  he  was 
humiliated  while  here  in  the  body  for  he  prays  the  Fath- 
er, "Glorify  me  with  the  glory  I  had  before  the  world 
was."  Since  he  entered  into  that  glory  it  could  hardly 
be  expected  that  he  would  want  to  return  here  and  as- 
sume the  robe  he  wore  while  on  earth  before. 

Again,  there  seems  to  be  a  mistaken  conception  with 
regard  to  the  ability  of  external  authority  to  produce 
righteousness  in  men.  Righteousness  and  unrighteous- 
ness proceed  from  the  acts  of  the  individual  will  in  each 
case  and  cannot  be  forced  upon  one  by  external  authority. 
Governments  may  encourage  goodness  and  discourage 
wickedness  but  that  is  the  extent  to  which  they  can  go. 
Then  if  one  is  wicked  in  spite  of  the  effort  of  the  gov- 
erning power  to  help  him  to  right  conduct,  he  is  more 
wicked  than  he  otherwise  would  be. 

One  may  imagine  a  ruler  who  as  a  man  and  ruler 
may  be  perfect,  a  sort  of  Kaiser,  with  absolute  power, 
even  to  that  of  life  and  death  over  all  his  subjects,  he 
may  be  perfect  in  his  character,  may  have  the  mind  of 


96  The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities 

Christ  himself,  but  he  could  not  produce  righteousness 
in  his  people.  If  such  a  sovereign  had  miraculous  power 
so  as  to  compel  the  wills  of  men,  he  might  compel  inno- 
cence but  that  without  moral  character.  There  would  be 
no  virtue. 

There  are  very  narrow  limits  to  the  power  of  ex- 
ternal authority  to  produce  moral  uprightness,  virtue. 

These  thoughts  may  be  preliminary  to  an  examina- 
tion of  the  evidences  adduced  for  a  second  incarnation 
of  Christ  or  of  his  physical  appearance  as  ruler  of  the 
world.  I  may  be  mistaken  in  my  understanding  of  an 
almost  universal  expectation.  It  seems  to  be  that  Christ 
will  again  appear  as  a  human  being,  at  least  as  a  man 
with  the  material  body  that  he  wore  during  the  thirty- 
three  and  a  half  years  that  he  was  on  the  earth  before. 

Very  much  has  been  written  and  is  being  written  that 
seems  to  convey  that  idea,  that  is,  that  Christ  is  to  ap- 
pear a  second  time  and  assume  the  role  in  which  he  re- 
fused to  act  when  he  was  here  before.  But  he  refused 
to  act  as  a  temporal  king  saying  ''my  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world."  And  how  terribly  disappointed  his  fol- 
lowers all  were  because  he  did  not.  One  can  hardly 
imagine  a  more  plaintive  wail  than  that  ''Wilt  thou  not 
now  restore  the  kingdom  of  Israel."  How  little  did  they 
realizee  that  he  had  established  a  kingdom  of  infinitely 
more  importance  than  the  one  they  were  vainly  trying  to 
have  him  establish. 

There  is  a  book  "Jesus  is  Coming"  written  by  one 
"Whom  not  having  seen  we  love"  for  his  Christian  char- 
acter, his  earnestness  and  long  continued  study  of  the 
scriptures.  His  character  as  a  man  and  Christian,  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  for  many  years  entitle  him  to  respect, 
more,  to  our  veneration  and  affection.  Yet  every  one 
has  his  intellectual  limitations.  I  do  not  profess  to  be 
learned  nor  to  be  a  scholar  but  I  have  seen  so  many  mis- 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities  97 

conceptions  even  in  some  of  the  greatest  scientists  and 
scholars,  demonstrable  mistakes,  that  I  take  the  liberty  to, 
at  least,  examine  closely  anything  that  is  presented  to  me 
for  acceptance.  It  may  be  that  "W.  E.  B."  has  his  limi- 
tations also.  At  least  there  are  appearances  that  would 
warrant  an  investigation  of  his  arguments  or  an  exam- 
ination of  the  passages  of  scripture  he  brings  as  proof 
of  his  positions. 

Is  it  certain  that  all  of  the  passages  of  scripture  that 
he  brings  forward  to  establish  his  conclusions,  refer  to 
some  one  single,  particular,  spectacular  event  which  is 
yet  future?  May  not  a  study  of  history,  sacred  and  pro- 
fane, show  that  some  of  them  referred  to  and  were  ful- 
filled in  events  long  past  ?  I  think  that  I  am  not  presum- 
ing when  I  say  that  in  some  instances  he  is  demonstrably 
wrong  in  some  of  his  positions.  Take  one  case.  He  con- 
fuses the  "new  covenant,"  established  by  Christ,  with  the 
"covenant  with  death  and  agreement  with  hell"  of  Isaiah 
28:15.  The  former  is  spoken  of  in  Daniel  9:27,  as  con- 
firmed by  Christ  in  "the  week,"  that  is  the  last  shabua 
of  the  seventy.  The  whole  of  that  seventy  shabua  of 
Daniel's  ninth  chapter,  all  of  its  prophecies  have  been 
as  literally  and  accurately  fulfilled  as  the  prophecy  that 
Jesus  was  to  be  born  in  Bethlehem  or  any  other  proph- 
ecy concerning  him. 

The  70  weeks  or  shabua  are  divided  into  three  pe- 
riods, 7  weeks,  62  weeks  and  one  week  or  shabua.  That 
term  means  a  period  of  seven  years  for  when  Daniel 
refers  to  a  week  of  7  days  he  says  "shabua  ganim,"  as 
in  the  second  and  third  verses  of  the  next  chapter.  At 
the  completion  of  the  first  period,  or  seven  weeks,  the 
church  and  state  of  Jerusalem  and  Judea  was  completed. 
At  the  end  of  the  second  period  mentioned,  or  the  sixty 
and  two  years  Jesus  was  "annointed"  by  his  baptism,  and 
thus  became  the  Christ  or  the  "annointed  one."    During 


98  The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

the  remaining  week,  or  shabua,  he  confirmed  the  covenant 
with  many.  In  the  midst  of  this  week,  too,  he  was  *'ciit 
off  but  not  for  himself."  Thus  he  was  mediator  of  the 
"new  covenant,"  and  "a  better  covenant"  and  his  was  the 
"Blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant."  That  covenant  is 
not  to  be  confounded  with  the  "covenant  with  death  and 
agreement  with  hell  spoken  of  in  Isaiah  28  :15. 

Again,  when  Jesus,  comforting  his  disciples  says,  "I 
go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare 
a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto 
myself ;  that  where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also,"  he  evi- 
dently did  not  expect  that  the  sorrow  stricken  one  would 
wait  two  or  three  thousand  years  for  him  to  redeem  his 
promise.  Referring  to  the  opinions  of  many  that  he  will 
come  at  death  and  receive  them,  W.  E.  B.  makes  the 
thought  ridiculous  by  confounding  death  with  Christ,  or 
death  itself  as  in  itself  his  coming.  The  thought  really 
is  that  at  death,  as  the  spirit  leaves  the  body,  Christ  re- 
ceives it,  and  takes  it  to  the  home  he  has  prepared  for  it. 

It  would  have  been  poor  comfort  to  those  disciples  to 
know  or  think  that  they  would  have  to  live  a  conscious 
existence  for  several  thousand  years  before  they  could 
see  him  again. 

For  myself,  I  am  very  much  disposed  to  allow  facts 
to  shape  my  theories  or  views,  and  as  a  fact  of  direct 
personal  knowledge,  I  know  that  in  his  spiritual  body 
Jesus  has  come  and  received  one,  in  fact  several,  of  his 
loved  ones  and  taken  them  to  himself.  The  fact  seems  to 
be  that  while  we  are  confined  to  these  bodies  we  are  not 
likely  to  realize  that  sentient  beings  can  exist  without 
them.  When  the  protomartyr  Stephen  was  dying  at  the 
hands  of  his  murderers  he  prayed  "Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  spirit."  It  would  not  have  been  at  all  like  Jesus  to 
have  postponed  an  answer  for  thousands  of  years.  Jesus 
says  to  the  thief  on  the  cross,  "This  day  thou  shalt  be  with 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities  99 

me  in  Paradise."  Although  Paradise  was  not  considered 
the  final  resting  place  of  the  spirit,  yet  it  looks  as  if  he 
were  to  be  with  Jesus  at  any  rate.  Again  note  Christ's 
prayer,  "Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also 
which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word."  And  then 
he  gones  on  "Father,  I  will  that  they  also,  whom  thou 
hast  given  me  be  with  me  where  I  am ;  that  they  may  be- 
hold my  glory,  which  thou  hast  given  me  ;  for  thou  lovedst 
me  before  the  foundation  of  the  world." 

It  would  certainly  seem  that  he  did  not  expect  that 
they  were  to  wait  for  thousands  of  years  and  then  behold 
him  with  only  the  glory  that  he  had  while  in  the  flesh. 
But  then,  it  is  contemplated,  of  course,  that  in  some  way 
his  material  body  would  be  more  glorious  than  the  one 
he  wore  before. 

Our  Saviour's  parables  are  designed  to  teach  spir- 
itual truth  and  in  his  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Laz- 
arus he  says  that  Lazarus  was  carried  by  angels  to  Ab- 
raham's bosom.  When  his  faithful  ones  now  die  he  does 
not  send  messengers.  He  comes  himself,  and  so  redeems 
his  promise,  "I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto 
myself." 


CHAPTER  XIL 

The  Second  Coming — Continued 

''And  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the 
right  hand  of  power  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  hea- 
ven/'   (Mark  14:62.   ) 

We  have  been  considering  some  of  the  passages  of 
scripture  relating  to  this  subject.  But  now,  passing  by 
a  great  many  that  may  or  may  not  apply  to  it  we  come 
directly  to  the  great  passages,  which,  more  than  any 
other,  and  more  than  all  others  combined,  the  prophecy 
from  Olivet.  This  is  contained  in  all  of  the  synoptic  gos- 
pels but  is  brought  out  more  fully  by  Matthew,  twenty- 
fourth  chapter.  Do  these  prophesies  or  that  prophecy 
as  a  whole  refer  to  the  present  time?  Is  their,  or  its, 
fulfillment  yet  future  ? 

There  was  then,  as  now,  a  great  expectancy  of  great 
events.  The  disciples  show  him  the  great  buildings  of 
the  temple,  but  he  tells  them  that  'There  shall  not  be 
left  here  one  stone  upon  another  that  shall  not  be  thrown 
down."  Then  the  disciples  ask  him  privately  ''Tell  us 
when  shall  these  things  be?  And  what  shall  be  the  sign 
of  thy  coming  and  of  the  end  of  the  world  ?"  (Age  or  dis- 
pensation). And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them, 
""Take  heed  that  no  man  deceive  you.  For  many 
shall  come  in  my  name  saying,  I  am  Christ,  and  shall 
deceive  many."  Then  he  goes  on  to  tell  them  of  wars 
and  rumors,  persecutions,  all  nations  should  hate  them. 
Many  should  be  ofifended  and  betray  one  another, 
iniquity  should  abound  and  the  love  of  many  should 
wax  cold.  "But  he  that  shall  endure  unto  the  end 
shall  be  saved."  The  gospel  of  the  kingdom  was  to 
be  preached  in  all  of  the  world  for  a  witness ;  and  then 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities        101 

■sTiall  the  end  come.  Luke  records,  ''When  ye  shall  see 
Jerusalem  compassed  with  armies,  then  know  ye  that  the 
desolation  thereof  is  nigh.  Then  let  them  that  are  in 
Judea  flee  to  the  mountains ;  and  let  them  that  are  in 
the  midst  of  it  depart  out ;  and  let  not  them  that  are  in 
the  countries  enter  therein.  For  these  be  the  days  ofven- 
geance  when  all  things  that  are  written  may  be  fulfilled." 
A  few  verses  further  on  Luke  records,  "And  there  shall 
be  signs  in  the  sun  and  in  the  moon,  and  in  the  stars ; 
and  in  the  earth  distress  of  nations,  with  perplexity;  the 
sea  and  the  waves  roaring ;  men's  hearts  failing  them  for 
fear,  and  for  looking  after  those  things  that  are  coming 
on  the  earth;  for  the  powers  of  heaven  shall  be  shaken. 
And  then  shall  they  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  a 
-cloud  with  power  and  great  glory."  Matthew  records 
essentially  the  same  prophesies  and  adds,  "For  as  the 
lightning  cometh  out  of  the  east  and  shineth  even  unto  the 
west,  so  shall  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be.  For 
wheresoever  the  carcase  (the  dead  Jewish  state)  is,  there 
will  the  eagles  (Roman  ensigns)  be  gathered  together." 
Then  in  this  immediate  connection  he  narrates,  "And  then 
shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven;  and 
then  shall  all  of  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they 
shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  with  power 
and  great  glory."  But  Matthew  goes  further  and  says, 
"And  he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a  great  sound  of  trum- 
pet, and  they  shall  gather  together  his  elect  from  the  four 
winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other."'  The  ful- 
fillment of  this  last  declaration  may  have  occurred  but 
have  not  been  visible  to  mortal  eyes.  But  now  passing 
that,  we  may  ask,  how  do  all  these  signs  apply  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  or  to  the  future?  How  is  it  about  Jerusalem? 
That  city  was  destroyed  centuries  ago  and  with  all  of  the 
signs  foretold  by  the  Lord  to  his  disciples. 


102         The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

The  temple  was  thrown  down  so  that  there  is  hard- 
ly one  stone  left  upon  another.  Before  that,  however^ 
was  done,  the  gospel  had  been  preached  in  all  the  world 
for  a  witness  to  all  nations.  This  last  statement  may  not 
be  clearly  proven,  but  it  can  be  very  nearly  so.  By  the 
persecutions  in  Jerusalem  and  Judea  the  disciples  were 
scattered  all  over  the  then  known  world.  The  twelve, 
the  twenty,  the  one  hundred  and  twenty,  and  perhaps 
thousands  more  went  everywhere  preaching  the  gospel. 
We  know  that  it  had  reached  Rome,  the  British  Isles, 
Babylon  and  China,  and  we  have  the  record  that  the  dis- 
ciples went  everywhere  preaching  the  gospel,  as  a  result 
of  their  persecutions. 

In  Ephesus  it  was  declared  "They  that  have  turned  the 
world  upside  down,  have  come  hither  also."  As  to- 
present  conditions  in  Jerusalem,  the  Christians  are  not 
fleeing  precipitately  to  the  mountains,  the  Turks  and 
Huns  are  doing  that  or  have  been  doing  it.  Jerusalem 
is  not  compassed  with  armies,  it  did  not  need  to  be  for 
its  oppressors  fled  without  offering  resistance. 

One  of  the  most  pathetic  scenes  of  the  world  war 
occurred  in  Jerusalem.  There  were  about  thirty 
thousand  Jews  and  Christians  in  the  city.  The  order 
had  been  given  that  all  of  them  should  be  deported  the 
next  day.  That  meant  what  it  did  mean  to  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Armenians  and  others,  hunger,  thirst, 
loss  of  all  their  property,  sickness  and  death,  to  per- 
haps the  most  of  them.  The  order  had  gone  forth,, 
they  were  to  start  the  next  day.  And  now  I  can  do  no 
better  than  to  take  a  few  passages  from  a  book,  "Jeru- 
salem, It's  Redemption  and  Future."  In  these  terrible 
days  in  Jerusalem,  Jews  and  Christians  fasted  and 
prayed.  Their  common  sorrow  and  desolation  drew 
them  nearer  to  one  another.     They  sought  concealment 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities        103 

in  the  darkest  cellars  and  deepest  subterranean  pas- 
sages.    Jews  and  Christians  found  refuge  together. 

It  was  in  this  darkness  and  dread  that  the  Jews 
awaited  the  coming  of  their  great  festival  of  light  and 
gladness,  Hannucca,  the  Feast  of  Deliverance  of  form- 
er days,  and  now  approaching  as  the  day  of  destruc- 
tion. The  women,  weeping,  prepared  the  oil  for  the 
sacred  lights,  and  even  the  men  wept,  saying  that  this 
should  be  the  last  time  they  should  keep  the  feast  in 
Jerusalem.  They  strained  their  ears  to  hear  the  sound 
of  horses'  hoofs  and  the  tread  of  the  soldiers  coming  to 
arrest  them  and  drive  them  forth.  The  women  pressed 
their  children  to  their  breasts  saying :  They  are  coming 
to  take  us,  the  assassins,  the  persecutors. 

Then,  suddenlv,  other  women  came  rushing-  from 
outside,  crying,  ''Hosanna,  Hosanna,  the  English,  the 
English  have  arrived." 

Weeping  and  shouting  for  joy,  trembling  and 
stumbling  over  one  another,  they  emerged  and  rushed 
forth  from  the  caverns  and  holes  and  underground 
passages. 

With  loud  cries,  with  outstretched  hands,  they 
blessed  the  company  of  their  deliverers,  who  advanced 
in  a  glory  of  light,  for  all  Jerusalem  was  illuminated 
by  the  crimson  light  of  the  setting  sun. 

With  the  victors,  entered  Justice  and  Peace,  into 
the  city  so  long  ruled  by  terror  and  pain. 

How  vastly  different  this  from  the  scenes  foretold 
in  the  prophecy  on   the  mount   of   Olives. 

The  conquerors  announced  that  they  came  not  as 
conquerors  but  as  deliverers.  General  Allenby  an- 
nounced that  every  one  should  pursue  his  vocation  and 
he  would  be  protected  in  all  his  civil  and  religious 
rights. 


104        The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

"How  solemn  and  imposing  was  the  reception  of 
the  hero  by  the  heads  of  three  great  reHgions — the  Jew- 
ish Rabbis,  the  Mufti  and  Sheiks,  and  the  Christian 
priests." 

How  impressive,  with  what  reHef  to  waiting 
hearts,  was  the  proclamation  that  all  shrines  and  sa- 
cred places  of  the  three  religions  should  be  equally 
respected. 

Life  revived  in  the  city  which  had  been  ravaged  by 
death.  The  new  rulers  distributed  medicine  and  hospi- 
tal supplies  for  the  sick.  The  soldiers  shared  their  ra- 
tions with  the  famished  populace.  As  soon  as  possi- 
ble, food  was  brought  from  Egypt.  Seed  was  given 
to  the  peasants  and  army  horses  and  mules  were  be- 
stowed to  plow  the  neglected  fields. 

The  inhabitants,  assured  of  the  tranquility  and  in- 
spired with  confidence,  began  to  organize  themselves 
and  to  develop  a  new  order  after  their  troubled  exis- 
tance. 

It  was  an  impulse  of  live  after  the  reign  of  death. 

How  different  is  all  this  from  the  scenes  foretold 
in  the  Prophecy  on  Olivet. 

But  the  question  arises,  when  was  that  prophecy 
fulfilled?  Jesus  himself  announces  the  time  within 
which  all  should  be  fulfilled.  "Verily,  verily  I  say  unto 
you.  This  generation  shall  not  pass,  till  all  these  things 
be  fulfilled.  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away  but  my 
word  shall  not  pass  away." 

He  could  not  possibly  have  made  a  stronger  as- 
sertion, and  the  assertion  is  reported  by  all  of  the  syn- 
optic gospel  writers. 

But  it  is  said  that  Christ  did  not  know  when  it 
was  to  be  and  quote,  "But  of  that  day  and  hour  know- 
eth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  of  heaven  but  my  Father 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities        105 

only."  He  does  not  say  but  that  the  Son  knew,  but  it 
was  not  best  to  tell  any  more  than  the  general  fact  that 
it  was  to  be  soon.  But  even  if  he  did  not  know  the  day 
or  hour  he  was  most  emphatic  that  it  was  to  be  within 
a  few  years.  I  may  not  know  the  day  or  hour  of  my 
own  departure,  but  I  should  be  safe  in  saying  that  it 
would  be  within  two  thousand  years. 

But  again  it  is  affirmed  that  the  word  ''generation" 
means  race,  the  Jewish  race.  But  that  race  was  never 
to  pass  away,  or  to  become  extinct.  Besides  that  Jesus 
is  very  much  more  explicit  in  some  of  his  declarations. 
Note  some  of  the  declarations  upon  this  subject.  (Mat. 
10:23)  ''Ye  shall  not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel, 
till  the  Son  of  man  be  come." 

(Luke  9:27,)  "But  I  tell  you  of  a  truth  there  be 
some  standing  here,  which  shall  not  taste  death,  till 
^hey  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 

(Luke  21  :22,)  "For  these  be  the  days  of  vengeance^ 
that  all  things  which  are  written  may  be  fulfilled." 

(Mat.  24:30,)  "And  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of 
the  Son  of  man  in  heaven;  and  then  shall  all  the  tribes 
of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great 
glory.." 

(Mark  14:62.)  Addressing  the  high  priest  Jesus 
says,  "Ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right 
hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven." 
Note,  too,  that  these  words  were  addressed  to  the  high 
priest  who  would  not  be  expected  to  see  him  in  glory. 
He  was  to  see  the  one  whom  he  was  condemning  to 
death,  coming  in  the  clouds  before  he  himself  should 
die. 

(Mat.  16  :27-28.)  "For  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in 
the  glory  of  his  Father  with  his  angels;  and  then  he 


106        Th  Divine  Life :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

shall  reward  every  man  according  to  his  works.  Veri- 
ily  I  say  unto  you,  There  be  some  standing  here,  which 
shall  not  taste  death,  till  they  see  the  Son  of  man  com- 
ing in  his  kingdom."  What  can  be  more  clear  than  that 
the  coming  he  speaks  of  was  to  be  within  a  few  years  of 
the  time  when  he  was  speaking? 

The  canon  of  the  New  Testament  was  closed  be- 
fore these  things  came  to  pass,  all  except  the  Revela- 
tion. That,  too,  may  have  been  written  before  the 
traditional   date  assigned  it. 

But  as  for  the  apparent  fulfillment  of  all  of  these 
prophecies,  note  the  account  given  by  the  great  Jewish 
historian  Josephus. 

After  telling  how  the  Roman  general  Cestius,  had 
completely  surrounded  the  city  with  his  legions,  with 
their  heathen  ensigns,  "the  eagles"  spoken  of  by  Christ, 
and  could  have  captured  the  city  "that  very  day'  as  the 
historian  says,  "he  recalled  his  soldiers  from  the  place 
and  by  despairing  of  any  expectation  of  taking  it, 
without  having  received  any  disgrace,  he  retired  from 
the  city  without  any  reason  in  the  world."  Then  it  was 
that  the  Christians  in  the  city  remembering  their  Lord's 
warnings  from  Olivet,  left  the  city  and  fled  to  the 
mountains  of  Perea,  and  escaped  the  terrible  destruc- 
tion in  the  city  when  one  million  three  hundred  thous- 
and of  the  unbelieving  Jews  perished. 

Christ  warns  his  followers  to  beware  of  false 
prophets,  as  has  been  said  before.  After  speaking  of 
the  destruction  of  a  great  number  of  men,  Josephus 
goes  on.  "A  false  prophet  was  the  occasion  of  these 
people's  destruction,  who  had  made  a  public  proclam- 
ation that  every  day  God  commanded  them  to  get  up 
upon  the  temple  and  that  there  they  should  receive  mi- 
raculous signs  of  deliverance."  But  instead  of  deliv- 
erance, it  only  hastened  their  death.     But  the  historian 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities        107 

goes  on,  "Now  there  was  then  a  great  number  of  false 
prophets,  suborned  by  the  tyrants  to  impose  upon  the 
people,  who  denounced  this  to  them  that  they  should 
wait  for  deliverance  from  God." 

Those  Jews  who  had  rejected  the  true  prophet 
were  lured  to  their  death  by  false  ones. 

Josephus  speaks  of  a  star,  resembling  a  Bword 
and  a  commet  that  continueed  a  whole  year.  He  goes  on, 
"a  great  door  of  brass  that  required  twenty  men  to 
move,  and  was  fastened  with  great  bolts  to  the  floor, 
which  was  of  one  stone,  opened  of  its  own  accord  about 
the  sixth  hour  of  the  night." 

So  of  other  portents.  He  goes  on  to  say,  ''Besides 
these,  a  few  days  after  the  feast,  on  the  one-and-twen- 
tieth  day  of  the  month,  Artemisius,  a  certain  and  in- 
credible and  prodigeous  phenomenon  appeared ;  for  be- 
fore sun  setting,  chariots  and  troops  of  soldiers  in  their 
armor  were  seen  running  about  among  the  clouds  and 
surrounding  cities.  Moreover,  at  the  feast  that  we  call 
Pentecost,  when  the  priests  were  going  into  the  inner 
court  of  the  temple,  as  their  custom  was,  to  perform 
their  sacred  ministrations,  they  said  that,  in  the  first 
place,  they  felt  a  quaking  and  heard  a  great  noise  and 
after  that  they  heard  the  sound  as  of  a  great  multitude, 
saying,   "Let  us  remove  hence." 

Then  he  speaks  of  the  lone  herald,  who,  for  seven 
years  and  five  months,  pronounced  woes  upon  the  city, 
and  at  last  was  hit  with  a  stone  from  one  of  the  Ro- 
man engines  of  war  and  killed. 

It  may  be  urged  that  there  is  no  mention  of  the 
appearance  of  Christ  in  the  heavens  or  in  the  clouds, 
but  we  have  no  records  that  he  was  seen  after  his  res- 
urrection by  any  one  but  his  own  followers.  That  sign 
which  the  Jews  took  to  be  a  Roman  short  sword,  and 


108        The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

that  continued  a  year  may  have  been  seen  by  those  who 
believed  Christ's  words,  to  have  been  a  cross  or  cruci- 
fix and  which  they  saw  as  the  "sign  of  the  Son  of  man, 
the  Son  of  man"  as  they  had  been  told.  At  any  rate 
its  brightness  may  have  been  the  brightness  that  Saul 
saw  on  the  road  to  Damascus. 

However  any  of  these  things  may  be,  the  Chris- 
tians of  Jerusalem  understood  the  signs  that  Jesus  gave 
them,  fled  from  the  city  and  escaped  its  destruction. 
That  was  the  end  of  the  age  or  dispensation  concern- 
ing which  the  disciples  had  inquired. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

''Hozv  arc  the  dead  raised  up?  And  zvith  wJiaf 
bodies  do  they  come?"    (I  Cor.  15:35.) 

In  view  of  the  preceding  something  more  should 
be  said  concerning  Christ's  resurrection  body  and  that 
of  the  human  race  in  general. 

But  here  the  same  difficulty  presents  itself  as  has 
been  before  considered,  that  of  conceiving  that  one 
may  be  a  complete  being  and  yet  not  be  clothed  in  flesh. 
Yet  God  is  pure  spirit,  angels  have  no  physical  append- 
ages. Why  should  it  be  so  hard  to  believe  that  the  hu- 
man race  may  exist  in  the  same  form  after  the  material 
body  has  performed  its   functions? 

I  believe  most  certainly,  without  doubt,  or  men- 
tal reservation,  that  the  body  that  Christ  wore  for 
thirty-  three  and  a  half  years  on  earth  was  re-animat- 
ed by  the  same  spirit  that  left  it  on  the  cross,  the  body 
that  was  laid  in  the  tomb  of  Joseph  was  literally 
really  restored  to  life,  that  an  angel  rolled  away  the 
stone  and  Jesus  came  forth  as  proof  that  death  had 
had  no  claims  upon  him,  and  that  his  words  while 
he  was  living  were  true.  But  that  is  not  equivalent 
to  saying  that  that  is  the  body  he  is  wearing  now 
nor  the  one  that  he  wore  at  his  ascension,  nor  the  one 
he  wore  all  of  the  time  that  he  was  on  the  earth  after 
his  resurrection  and  before  his  ascension.  The  apos- 
tle speaks  of  "The  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Who  shall 
change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like 
unto  his,  glorious  body?" 

If  he  -was  able  to  "Change  our  vile  body  that  it 
may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body,"  why 
could  not  he  have  changed  his  own  body  in  the  same 


110        The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

way  whenever  he  chose  to?     And  it  seems  that  he  had 
that  glorious  body  when  the  apostle  wrote. 

But  that  he  wore  the  flesh  a  part  of  the  time  after 
his  resurrection  is  very  evident  for  he  showed  his 
hands  and  feet  with  the  nail  prints  in  them  and  his  side 
with  its  spear  wound.  He  also  ate  with  them  once  or 
twice. 

But  these  manifestations  may  have  been  only  to 
prove  that  he  had  returned  from  Sheol,  Hades,  and 
which  he  could  not  so  satisfactorily  demonstrate  in 
any  other  way.  But  as  I  have  said  before,  that  does 
not  prove  that  he  wore  that  body  to  heaven  nor  all  of 
the  time  that  he  was  on  the  earth. 

If  he  wore  that  body  in  a  natural  way  he  must 
have  supplied  himself  with  blood  and  clothing  by  a  mir- 
aculous act.  He  shed  his  blood  on  Calvary.  His  cloth- 
ing was  divided  among  the  soldiers  and  at  his  burial 
he  had  on  only  his  winding  sheet,  his  grave  clothes.  He 
did  not  appear  in  them.  H  he  had  he  would  have  been 
more  easily  recognized  by  those  who  saw  him  after 
he  had  come  from  the  tomb.  But  it  seems  strange  that 
he  was  not  recognized  more  readily  by  those  who  saw 
him.  Mary  did  not  know  him  on  that  morning  when 
she  found  the  empty  tomb,  until  he  spoke  her  name. 
The  disciples  on  the  way  to  Emmaus  did  not  know  him 
though  they  walked  with  him,  talked  with  him  and  even 
when  he  "Began  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets  he  ex- 
pounded unto  them  in  all  the  scriptures  the  things  con- 
cerning himself,"  they  still  did  not  recognize  him.  It 
was  not  until  he  had  been  with  them,  talked  with  them 
and  not  until  he  revealed  himself  as  he  broke  the  bread 
that  they  knew  him  and  then  "He  vanished  out  of  their 
sight."  He  did  not  walk  away  as  he  was  accustomed 
to  do  while  on  earth  in  the  flesh.  And  nearly  every  time 
he  was  seen,  he  simply  "appeared"  to  them,  sometimes 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities        111 

as  they  were  locked  up  in  a  closed  room  for  fear  of  the 
Tews  or  as  they  walked  or  as  he  appeared  to  Saul  of 
Tarsus. 

He  presented  himself  in  his  mortal  body  for  a 
time  in  order  to  prove  as  he  could  best  prove  to  his  dis- 
ciples and  the  world  that  he  had  really  returned  from 
Sheol,  Hades,  and  had  accomplished  the  work  of  re- 
demption. He  could  put  on  or  take  off  the  robe  of  flesh 
as  easily  as  we  can  a  loose  fitting  robe  of  any  kind. 
There  was  no  girding  of  the  loins  for  an  exercise  of 
power  when  he  made  the  worlds,  for  *'The  heavens  are 
the  work  of  thy  fingers,"  easily  done,  did  not  require 
even  the  whole  hand.  The  putting  on  or  taking  off 
of  the  robe  of  flesh  was  not  harder.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  his  prayer  that  his  Father  should  glorify  him  with 
the  glory  he  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was, 
was  answered,  and  that  he  now  exists  in  that  glorified 
body,  as  he  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  that  Father,  or  as 
he  appeared  to  the  apostle  on  the  "isle  that  is  called 
Fatmos." 

But  there  is  a  further  question  to  be  answered. 
The  Apostles  Creed  says  "He  descended  into  hell,"  that 
is  Hades,  or  Sheol.  His  body  was  in  Joseph's  tomb, 
but  he  himself,  his  real  self,  was  in  the  place  of  depart- 
ed spirits. 

In  Peter  3:18  we  read:  "For  Christ  also  hath  once 
suffered  for  sins,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might 
bring  us  to  God,  being  put  to  death  in  the  flesh,  but 
quickened  by  the  Spirit ;  by  which  also  he  went  and 
preached  to  the  spirits  in  prison;  which  sometime  were 
disobedient"  and  so  on.  The  "prison"  that  Peter  speaks 
of  was  the  place  of  departed  spirits.  Hades.  Jesus  was 
there  for  a  time,  his  rising  out  of  that  place  was  his 
real  resurrection.  His  putting  on  again  of  the  flesh 
was  but  the  proof,    the  occular    demonstration  that    he 


112         The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

had  so  returned.  But  "Though  we  have  known  Christ 
after  the  flesh,  yet  henceforth  know  we  him  no  more," 
that  is  "after  the  flesh." 

It  may  be  so  with  mankind.  Their  resurrection 
may  not  mean  the  reanimation  of  physical  bodies,  the 
lumps  of  phosphate  and  carbonate  of  lime,  the  oxygen, 
liydrogen  and  others  of  the  chemical,  material  elements 
that  now  make  up  our  bodies.  I  have  not  the  shadow 
of  a  doubt  that  God  could  collect  together  the  identical 
ions  and  electrons  that  composed  the  atoms  that  en- 
tered into  the  body  of  Wycliff  whose  ashes  were 
thrown  'Tnto  the  Severn,  and  from  the  Severn  to  the 
•sea,"  he  could  have  formed  them  again  into  the  body 
that  was  burned  at  the  stake,  but  it  would  be  a  great 
deal  easier,  cheaper  to  make  a  body  out  of  entirely  new 
material  than  to  be  to  all  that  trouble.  Then,  after  all, 
what  would  be  the  use?  It  would  immediately  be 
changed  again  into  a  spiritual  body  as  Paul  so  earnest- 
ly argues.  God  could  collect  again  all  of  the  ions  and 
electrons  that  composed  the  bodies  of  all  those  who 
have  been  burned  at  the  stake,  devoured  by  wild  beasts 
to  amuse  a  Roman  audience,  those  who  from  "the  tow- 
ers of  silence"  have  passed  through  the  bodies  of  vult- 
ures and  from  them  nourished  the  soil  from  which 
food  has  grown  to  nourish  others  of  the  human  race. 
But  as  before,  what  would  be  the  use.  As  Paul  urges, 
they  would  be  changed  back  into  spiritual  bodies. 
Those  identical  physical  elements  may  never  be  put  to- 
gether again  to  form  a  body  that  would,  at  least,  be 
immediately   changed   back   again. 

How  the  aspostle  labors,  struggles  to  teach  us 
something  about  the  resurrection  body  in  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  his  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians.  "But  some 
man  will  say  'how  are  the  dead  raised  up  and  with  what 
bodies  do  they  come?     Thou   foolish  one,'  he  goes  on 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities        113 

to  say,  "that  which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  ex- 
cept it  die."  The  original  seed  perishes,  but  that  which 
comes  from  it  has  a  different  form,  as  he  says  "and  that 
which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  body  that  shall 
be,  but  bare  grain,  it  may  chance  wheat  or  some  other 
grain.  But  God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him 
and  to  every  seed  his  own  body."  "So  also  is  the  res- 
urrection of  the  dead.  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is 
raised  in  incorruption ;  it  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is 
raised  in  glory;  it  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in 
power;  it  is  sown  a  natural  body;  it  is  raised  a  spirit- 
ual body.  There  is  a  natural  body  and  there  is  a  spirit- 
ual body."  "As  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthy, 
so  shall  we  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly.  Now  this 
I  say,  brethren,  that  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God ;  neither  doth  corruption  inherit  in- 
corruption. Behold  I  show  you  a  mystery;  we  shall 
not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  be  changed,  In  a  moment,  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump ;  for  the  trum- 
pet shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorrupt- 
ible, and  we  shall  be  changed.  For  this  corruptible  must 
put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  im- 
mortality." 

In  his  letter  to  the  Philppians  he  says,  "For  our 
conversation  is  in  heaven  from  whence,  also,  we  look 
for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall 
change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like 
unto  his  glorious  body."  We  have  seen  something  of 
what  that  glorious  body  is  in  what  has  been  said  be- 
fore. 

Jesus,  himself  makes  the  subject  even  more  plain 
than  Paul,  for  he  says  that  in  the  resurrection  we  shall 
be  like  the  angels,  and  the  angels  are  pure  spirits  with 
no  physical  material  about  them,  for  he  says,  "a  spirit 
hath  not  flesh  and  bones  as  ye  see  me  have."     This  he 


114        The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities 

said  to  convince  some  that  he  had  really  risen  from 
the  dead.  But  the  affirmation  holds,  ''a  spirit  hath  not 
flesh  and  bones."  He  thus  supplements  what  Paul 
says,  "Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God." 

Both  Paul  and  Christ  make  it  as  strong  as  it  can 
possibly  be  put,  that  when  these  bodies  have  served  the 
purpose  they  were  designed  to  serve,  and  they  are  laid 
away,  we  are  done  with  them.  So  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, I  am  glad  of  it.  These  bodies  cannot  stand 
much  of  pleasure  or  of  joy.  This  body  has  been  a  pretty 
feeble,  too  feeble,  an  instrument  to  realize  much  of  the 
hopes,  the  desires,  the  aspirations  of  the  spirit  that  it 
still  holds  in  thrall.  Though  always  slender,  it  has 
served  its  purpose  pretty  well,  though  it  has  not  ena- 
bled its  owner  to  accomplish  his  desires,  yet  it  has  done 
pretty  well.  But  when  it  has  gone  on  a  little  longer,  I 
shall  be  glad  to  bid  it  a  final  farewell. 

I  have  said  this  with  regard  to  myself  to  intro- 
duce some  thoughts  with  regard  to  others.  How  may 
we  suppose  it  may  be  with  those  who  have  gone  be- 
fore? 

Suppose  that  John  on  the  isle  of  Patmos  had  a  rev- 
elation of  facts,  realities,  and  not  some  imaginary  fan- 
cies? Suppose  that  what  he  says  that  he  saw,  he  really 
did  see?  There  would  be  some  really  astonishing  rev- 
elations, to  say  the  least. 

**What  are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white 
robes?  and  whence  came  they?  And  I  said  unto  him. 
Sir  thou  knowest.  And  he  said  to  me,  These  are  they 
that  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed 
their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb.  Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne  of  God, 
and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  the  temple;  and  he  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne  shall  dwell  among  them.   They 


The  Divine  Life:    Its  Development  and  Activities        115 

shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more ;  neither 
shall  the  sun  light  upon  them  nor  any  heat.  For  the 
Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall  feed 
them,  and  lead  them  to  the  fountains  of  living  waters ; 
and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes."  (Rev. 
7:14-17.) 

Now,  though  we  may  not  understand  all  about 
these  things,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  believe  that  he  act- 
ually saw  the  spirits  of  some  of  the  redeemed  ones 
around  the  throne  where  Jesus  prayed  that  his  follow- 
ers might  be  and  see  him  in  his  glory?  God  opened  the 
eyes  of  Gehazi  so  that  he  saw  the  mountains  around 
them  full  of  horses  of  fire  and  chariots  of  fire,  an  an- 
gelic host  there  for  their  protection.  Is  it  any  harder 
to  believe  that  John  really,  in  fact  saw  what  he  says  he 
saw,  and  not  a  mere  vision,  a  creature  of  the  imagin- 
ation ? 

•Supposing,  then,  that  there  are  really  souls  of  the 
departed  saints  now  around  the  throne  of  God,  in  the 
condition  above  described,  would  they  want  to  come 
back  here,  even  if  God  should  fix  their  former  bodies 
better  than  they  were  before? 

But  now  we  may  go  a  step  further  in  considering 
our  resurrection  bodies  and  their  condition. 

Matthew  says,  "The  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent 
from  the  top  to  the  bottom;  and  the  earth  did  quake 
and  the  rocks  rent;  And  the  graves  were  opened;  and 
many  of  the  bodies  of  them  that  slept  arose,  and  came 
out  of  their  graves  after  his  resurrection,  and  went  into 
the  holy  city,  and  appeared  unto  many." 

Now  as  Christ  appeared  in  the  flesh  for  a  time  to 
prove  that  his  spirit  had  left  Sheol,  how  much  of  a 
heresy  would  it  be  to  beHeve  that  the  appearance  of 
the  bodies   of  those  saints  were  the  signs,  the  tokens, 


116        The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

the  proofs,  that  the  rest  of  the  saints,  also,  had  left  the 
place  of  departed  spirits  for  their  eternal  abiding 
place?  Paul  speaks  of  Christ's  resurrection  as  being 
"the  first   fruits  of  them  that  slept." 

But  after  the  first  fruits,  the  rest  of  the  crop  soon 
followed.      He,   indeed,   speaks   of   some   having   erred, 
saying  that  the  resurrection  was  past  already,  but  that 
would  not    preclude   the  fact    that  it  was  in    progress, 
though  not  concluded.     But  waiving  this   for  the  time 
being,  note  again  what  the   Seer  of   Patmos  says  that 
he  saw,  ''And  after  this   I  beheld,  and  lo,  a  great  mul- 
titude that  no  man  could  number,   of   all  nations,  and 
kindreds,  and  tongues  and  people  stood  before  the  throne, 
and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed  in  white  robes,  and  palms 
in  their  hands ;  And  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying  Sal- 
vation to  our  God   which    sitteth    upon  the   throne,  and 
unto  the   Lamb."     And  then   in  this   same   connection, 
"And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them,  and  judg- 
ment was  given  unto  them ;  and  I  saw  the  souls  of  them 
that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus,  and  for  the 
word  of  God,  and  which  had  not  worshipped  the  beast, 
neither  his  image,  neither  had  received  his  mark  upon 
their    foreheads ;  or  in  the  hands ;  and  they  lived  and 
reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand  years.     But  the  rest  of 
the  dead  lived  not  until  the  thousand  years  were  finished. 
This  is  the  first  resurrection.     Blessed  and  holy   is  he 
that  hath  part  in  the  first  resurrection ;  on  such  the  second 
death  hath  no  power,  but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and 
of  Christ,  and  shall  reign  with  him  a  thousand  years." 

Now,  again,  supposing  that  John  actually  saw  what 
he  says  that  he  saw  in  fact  and  not  in  mere  figures  of 
speech,  what  follows?  Simply  that  the  souls  that  had 
been  kept  in  Sheol,  or  in  "Prison,"  as  Peter  says,  were 
released  after  the  work  of  redemption  was  finally  and 
fully  completed. 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities        117 

There  v/as  no  use  of  their  being  confined  there  long- 
er for  the  entire  universe  of  spiritual  beings  had  seen 
God's  justice  vindicated  in  fact  and  not  merely  in  prom- 
ise, that  the  work  of  redemption  was  completed,  and  all 
were  at  liberty  to  go  to  their  eternal,  final,  homes  with 
Christ  and  God. 

Accepting  this  view,  we  at  least,  bring  our  theories 
ofEschatology  into  harmony  with  our  practical  beliefs. 

Of  course,  at  the  grave  of  the  departed,  as  the  re- 
mains are  deposited  to  return  to  dust,  we  may  say, 
''Earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes  and  dust  to  its  original 
dust,  yet  sorrow  we  not  as  those  who  have  no  hope  but 
wait  the  morning  of  the  first  resurrection,"  and  so  on. 
But  practically,  do  we  believe  that  the  departed  spirit  is 
to  go  to  some  dark  abode  to  wait,  perhaps  a  few  thous- 
and years,  until  Christ  shall  come,  to  pass  judgment  and 
then  send  it  to  its  home  on  high? 

Perhaps,  after  all,  John,  "on  the  isle  that  is  called 
Patmos"  may  have  had  a  more  perfect  "Revelation"  than 
we  have  been  accustomed  to  think,  but  that  the  revela- 
tion may  have  had  more  to  do  with  things  unseen  by 
mortal  eyes  than  we  have  thought. 

And  now,  what  was  Paul's  thought,  his  purpose  in 
explaining,  in  emphasizing  so  earnestly,  the  spiritual  na- 
ture of  the  resurrection?  He  explains  in  a  few  words, 
"Therefore,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye  steadfast,  un- 
movable,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  for- 
asmuch as  ye  know  that  your  work  is  not  in  vain  in  the 
Lord." 

It  was  to  stimulate  their  activity  in  the  work  that 
Christ  assigned  them. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

''This  is  a  great  mystery,  but  I  speak  of  Clirist  and 
the  Church/'    (Eph.  5:32.) 

But  with  regard  to  "The  Second  Coming"  of  Christ, 
is  there  then  nothing  to  it  ?  Why  all  of  this  universal  ex- 
pectation, this  almost  feverish  anxiety,  this  hope  deferred, 
this  preaching  of  this  doctrine  by  some  of  the  most  loy- 
al, the  most  effectual,  the  greatest  ministers  of  the  gospel 
of  this  age?  Why  all  this?  Is  it,  then,  all  a  false  hope, 
a  delusion,  a  groundless  expectation?  I  make  no  positive 
assertion,  but  may  there  not  be  a  reality  vaster  than  the 
conception,  more  real  than  the  expectation,  more  inspir- 
ing, even,  than  ''the  blessed  hope"  that  with  many  now 
is  so  enrapturing?  I  can  conceive  of  such  a  reality  and 
partly,  at  least,  as  the  result  of  this  last  world  catastro- 
phe. 

We  have  considered  some  things  regarding  *'thy  com- 
ing and  the  end  of  the  world"  that  the  disciples  inquired 
of  Jesus  about.  He  gave  them  many  signs  which  those 
who  believed  on  him  received  as  of  "his  coming"  and  they 
fled  to  a  place  of  safety  in  the  mountains,  as  he  warned 
them.  "The  end  of  the  world"  or  dispensation,  followed. 
That  was  the  greatest  convulsion  that  the  world  had  ever 
seen  up  to  that  time.  It  is  passing  strange  how  entirely 
it  has  seemed  to  escape  the  notice  of  those  who  would 
naturally  be  most  interested  in  it,  and  most  likely  to  rec- 
ognize it. 

But  sometimes  one  event  is  the  foregleaming,  the 
type,  the  prophecy  of  another  and  a  greater.  That  was 
true  of  some  of  the  prophecies  connected  with  Christ's 
first  coming,  or  rather  of  his  incarnation.  Possibly  it 
may  be  so  now.  As  that  greatest  of  all  catastrophes 
marked  the  "end  of  the  world"  or  dispensation,  or  order 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities        119 

of  tilings,  may  not  this  last  and  indefinitely  greater  con- 
vulsion mark  the  beginning  of  a  new  world  or  order  of 
things? 

I  make  no  positive  affirmation,  but  it  may  be  so.  It 
may  be  that  "the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness"  are  not  far  away.  At  least,  it  is 
partly  true  that  now,  how  things  are  seen  depends  upon 
the  eyes  that  see. 

The  wooden  crosses  in  France,  "the  poppies  that 
grow  in  Flanders  fields"  are  mute,  yet  eloquent,  monu- 
ments of  a  heroism  that  may  have  had,  perhaps  uncon- 
ciously,  a  higher  than  a  human  source.  An  object  great- 
er, infinitely  greater  and  higher  and  purer  than  any  hu- 
man ambition  or  purpose  or  desire  may  have  been  in  the 
thoughts  of  Him  in  whose  hands  are  the  destinies  of  na- 
tions. We  hear  a  great  deal  about  "making  the  world 
safe  for  Democracy."  It  may  be  that  God's  plan  is  to 
make  Democracy  safe  for  the  world.  Democracy  is  not  a 
word  to  safely  conjure  by.  What  it  will  do  depends  upon 
the  character  of  the  people  that  compose  it.  Democracy  is 
not  a  new  thing  under  the  sun.  Whether  it  will  be  a  bless- 
ing or  not  depends  upon  the  extent  to  which  the  spirit  of 
Him  who  bled  upon  a  greater  wooden  cross  on  Calvary 
animates  the  people,  the  extent  to  which  they  are  animat- 
ed by  the  life,  the  eternal  life  he  gives  and  for  which  he 
gave  his  life  to  give. 

It  seems  to  be  the  almost  universal  opinion  of  tliink- 
ing  men  of  vision,  that  the  past  conflict  has  been  more 
than  the  conflict  of  human  ambitions,  bu.  of  conflicthig 
incarnate  principles.  Upon  one  side  of  the  supermen  of 
Nietzsche,  upon  the  other  the  supermen  of  Goethe.  The 
first  animated  by  the  gospel  of  hate,  the  other  by  the  gos- 
pel of  Charity.  It  was  a  conflict  of  the  same  principles 
as  were  involved  in  the  battle  of  Tours  cen<-uries  ago, 
when  the  armies  of  Charles  Martel  turned  back  the  hosts 


120         The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

of  Mohammedan  Saracens  that  had  ahnost  overrun  the 
world. 

The  geographical  Armageddon  battle  has  been 
fought,  and  by  it  the  last  of  the  hosts  of  the  oppressor 
was  driven  from  Palestine,  may  not  the  mystical  battle, 
too,  have  been  fought  out  between  those  two  opposing 
principles?  Whether  this  be  the  thought  or  not,  or  ex- 
pressed in  such  words  or  not,  it  is  amazing  the  extent  icy 
which  the  essential  idea  has  taken  possession  of  multi- 
tudes of  people.  Secular  papers  vie  with  religious  pa- 
pers in  voicing  the  essential  idea,  though  far,  perhaps, 
from  realizing  in  consciousness,  the  full  meaning  of  their 
words.  Take,  for  example,  the  words  of  an  American 
man  of  letters,  "For  the  civilization  that  is  represented 
at  the  Peace  Congress,  Christ  is  still  the  great  mind,  the 
great  restraint,  the  indispensable  means  to  make  democ- 
racy safe  and  guard  the  liberty  with  forbearance.  If 
Christ  is  a  failure,  the  congress  will  be  a  failure  and  the 
world  must  have  a  new  prophet.  The  congress  at  Ver- 
sailles will  have  to  listen  to  the  Jesus  Christ  mandate 
whether  anybody  puts  it  into  words  or  not." 

Take  the  following  from  a  secular  daily  paper,  "No 
league  or  society  of  nations  formed  conditionally  can 
stand  unless  supported  by  a  league  of  churches  and  a 
unity  of  moral  ideas. 

Civilization  has  a  hand  in  unified  religious  bodies 
the  most  powerful  machine  for  moral  and  social  ad- 
vancement conceived  in  any  age. 

Any  society  of  nations  the  proposed  league  of  na- 
tions, must  crumble  unless  the  world  is  leavened  with  a 
unity  of  moral  ideas.  These  moral  and  social  ideas  can- 
not be  put  over  by  unrelated  denominations.  We  de- 
sire unity  in  the  matter  of  economic  justice  and  on  all 
moral  issues  and  do  not  concern  ourselves  with  the  split- 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities        121 

ting  of  hairs  or  theologic  discussions.  Tomorrow,  the 
paper  goes  on  to  say,  ''174,000  preachers  will  go  to  work, 
all  driving  at  the  same  thing — the  advancement  of  the 
world's  moral  welfare.  If  this  army  of  spiritual  leaders 
were  united  in  a  battle  for  some  great  issue  nothing  in 
the  world  could  stand  up  against  the  drive." 

Some  of  these  thoughts  and  words  may  have  a  bear- 
ing more  on  what  is  to  follow  than  upon  what  has  been 
said.  But  they  are  samples  of  what  we  find  in  almost 
any  paper  we  chance  to  pick  up. 

The  church  of  Christ  is  being  called  as  never  before 
to  ''come  up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty,"" 
and  it  is  answering  the  call. 

A  few  words  more  from  a  religious  paper.  "To  pro- 
vide the  spiritual  equivalent  of  the  stupendous  material 
forces  released  in  the  world  war  the  evangelical  church 
in  all  of  her  great  denominations  is  prospecting  a  program 
of  extension  and  enlargement  on  a  vast  and  comprehen- 
sive scale.  The  barest  enumeration  of  this  in  naked  out- 
line is  impressive.  The  aggregate  impression  is  full  of 
inspiration  and  challenge." 

Again,  the  same  paper  goes  on  to  say,  "It  would  be 
a  tragedy  unspeakable  if  we  should  win  the  war  and' 
after  all  fail  to  achieve  the  purpose  for  which  we  are 
fighting.  To  what  end  shall  we  have  spent  millions  of 
treasure  and  the  far  more  precious  lives  of  our  sons  if 
we  fail  to  take  a  long  step  toward  the  creation  between 
nations  and  races,  the  relations  of  good  will  and  help- 
fulness that  are  in  accord  with  the  principles  of  Christ 
and  are  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  human  race?" 

Again  "The  Church  is  awake.  The  dry  bones  are 
living.  What  does  it  all  mean — this  new  determination,, 
this  new  endeavor?  As  the  Church  sees  the  world  as  it 
has  never  seen  the  world  before,  so  the  world  sees  the 


122        The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

church  as  it  has  never  seen  the  church  before.  In  the 
grea;t  movements  now  being  inaugurated  there  is  some- 
thing for  everybody  to  do." 

/Such  expressions  are  faint  foregleams  of  the  truth. 
That  fiercely  soul  stirring  challenge  of  Col.  McCrae  is  to 
the  Church.    "Take  up  our  quarters  with  the  foe." 

"To  you  from  failing  hands  we  throw 
The  torch;  be  yours  to  hold  it  high, 
If  ye  break  faith  with  us  who  die, 
We  shall  not  sleep  though  poppies  grow 
In  Flanders  Fields." 
The  challenge  has  been  answered  in  words  in  the 
language  of  another : 

*'And  now  the  torch  and  poppy  red 
We  wear  in  honor  of  our  dead. 
Fear  not  that  ye  have  died  for  naught ; 
We've  learned  the  lesson  that  ye  taught 
In   Flanders   Fields." 

Words?  Yes,  and  deeds.  The  thin  line  of  soldiers 
firing  their  red  hot  rifles  at  Ypres,  the  hosts  that  at  Ver- 
dun met  the  advancing  tens  of  thousands  with  the  cry, 
"they  shall  not  pass,"  others  at  Chateau  Thiery  and  hun- 
dreds of  other  bloody  fields  have  answered  the  chal- 
lenge but  in  part. 

They  have  meet  the  physical  challenge  but  the  in- 
tangible, invisible  spirit  back  of  it  all,  animating  all,  forc- 
ing all  still  remains  to  be  met. 

That  challenge  of  McCrae  must  be  met,  accepted 
by  spiritual  forces  and  those  forces  are  represented  by 
the  Church  of  Christ. 

After  all  may  it  not  be  that  those  who  entertain  "the 
blessed  hope"  may  not  be  mistaken  so  much  in  the  fact 
of  the  Lord's  return  as  the  manner  of  it? 


The  Divine  Life'.     Its  Development  and  Activities        123 

He  did  not  come  at  first  to  meet  the  expectations, 
the  most  ardent  desires  of  a  hungering  world,  but  he  did 
better. 

Israel  expected  that  their  Messiah  would  break  the 
power  of  Rome  and  set  up  a  temporal  kingdom,  but  he 
did  better.  He  came  to  break  the  power  of  a  greater 
than  Rome  and  set  up  a  greater  kingdom,  but  not  of  this 
world. 

It  may  not  be  surprising  if  some  now  may  be  mis- 
taken in  the  manner  of  his  coming  and  the  manner  of  his 
working.  Reasoning  from  the  past  can  we  expect  that 
the  church  can  sit  down  with  folded  hands,  look  on  and 
wonder  and  applaud  while  He  assumes  again  the  human 
form,  comes  as  a  great  king  and  by  an  exercise  of  won- 
derful, miraculous  power  abolish  sin  and  crime,  bring 
order  out  of  the  world's  confusion,  and  whether  men 
will  or  not,  establish  a  reign  of  everlasting  and  perfect 
righteousness  on  earth?  To  accomplish  that  is  just  what 
he  commissioned  his  Church  to  do. 

"Must  I  be  carried  to  the  skies 
On  Flowery  beds  of  ease, 
While  others  fought  to  win  the  prize 
And  sailed  through  bloody  seas?" 
Christ's  answer  would  be  a  most  decided  negative. 
He  expects  his  Church  to  build  up  his  kingdom  in 
this  world,  or  rather  that  He  will  do  it  through  and  by 
his  Church.     And  let  us  not  be  mistaken  in  this  regard 
and  think  that  if  anything  is  accomplished  we  have  done 
it.     It  is  after  all  Christ  that  is  doing  the  work.     After 
writing  the  longest  of  the  four  gospels,  Luke  says,  "The 
former  treaties  have  I  made — of  all  that  Jesus  began 
both  to  do  and  to  teach."    He  only  began  his  doing  and 
teaching  while  here  in  the  flesh.    He  has  been  doing  and 
teaching  ever  since. 


124         The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

When  the  disciples  wrought  miracles  they  never 
professed  to  do  it  by  their  own  power.  It  was  Christ 
that  did  it  When  they  taught  it  was  by  the  wisdom  of 
Christ.  When  they  performed  wonderful  works  it  was 
by  the  power  of  the  risen  Christ.  I  need  not  quote  par- 
ticular passages  to  prove  such  statements.  They  are 
too  many  and  too  apparent  to  need  quoting. 

But  let  us  gain  the  climax  of  this  line  of  thought  by 
gradual  approaches.  As  he  delivers  his  last  and  great 
commission,  Jesus  says  to  his  disciples,'  '*Lo  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  Note  first 
he  is  to  be  with  them.  Jesus  is  as  omnipresent  as  God, 
for  he  is  God. 

Further  than  .that  he  is  not  only  to  be  with  them  but 
in  them.  He  prays  "that  they  may  be  one  even  as  we  are 
one,  I  in  them  and  thou  in  me  that  they  may  be  made  per- 
fect in  one,"  and  so  on. 

Then  how  earnestly  he  prays  ''That  the  love  where- 
with thou  hast  loved  me  may  be  in  them  and  I  in  them." 

But  Paul  makes  the  fact  very  plain.  "Know  ye 
not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the  spirit  of 
God  dwelleth  in  you?  If  any  man  defile  the  temple  of 
God,  him  shall  God  destroy;  for  the  temple  of  God  is 
holy,  which  temple  ye  are."  Again  he  is  more  specific 
with  regard  to  its  being  Christ  that  is  spoken  of,  "Know 
ye  not  your  own  selves,  how  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  you 
except  ye  be  reprobates?"  Again  Paul  prays,  "That 
Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith?"  and  so  on. 
But  to  be  still  more  specific,  (I  Cor.  6:15,)  "Know 
ye  not  that  your  bodies  are  members  of  Christ?"  Then, 
(I  Cor.  12—27)  "Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ  and 
members  in  particular." 

Then  as  for  the  Church  in  the  aggregate,  (Eph.  1  :22- 
23),  speaking  of  Christ  he  says  "And  hath  put  all  things 
under  his    feet,    and  gave   him  to  be    all  things  to    the 


The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities        125 

Church  which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth 
all  in  all."  Again  he  speaks  of  "The  afflictions  of  Christ 
in  my  flesh  for  his  body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church."  He 
speaks  of  the  Church  as  the  body  of  Christ.  Finally, 
(Eph.  5:30),  speaking  of  Christ  he  says  "For  we  are 
members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh  and  of  his  bones." 
Then  speaking  of  man  and  wife  as  being  one  flesh  he 
says  "This  is  a  great  mystery;  but  I  speak  of  Christ  and 
the  Church."  It  would  seem  that  nothing  could  be  more 
plain  than  that  the  Church  is  the  incarnation  of  Christ, 
and  it  is  the  body  of  flesh  and  bones  through  which  he 
is  to  accomplish  his  work  in  the  world. 

Christ  is  too  large  to  be  confined  to  a  single  human 
body.  He  fills  the  universe  and  can  inhabit  every  human 
being  in  the  universe  and  then  not  exhaust  his  being.  He 
is  the  "Fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all." 

But  what  about  his  second  coming?  It  may  be  like 
that  of  the  Comforter  whom  Christ  promised  to  send  to 
the  disciples.  Just  before  he  ascended  he  breathed  on 
them  and  said  "receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost."'  They  re- 
ceived the  Holy  Spirit  then  and  there  but  his  full  manifes- 
tation was  not  until  after  that  ten  day's  prayer  meeting. 
Then  He  came  in  the  fulness  of  his  power  on  the  day  of 
pentecost.  But  it  was  not  in  the  form  of  a  man,  even  in 
physical  perfection,  but  as  tongues  of  fire  breaking  off 
from  the  Shekinah  cloud  in  the  room.  These  tongues 
settled  upon  them  and  filled  them  and  then  was  performed 
the  promise  of  Christ,  "Ye  shall  receive  power  when  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you."  The  world  waited  2,000 
years  for  the  fulness  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  to  come 
in,  and  has  waited  nearly  as  long  for  the  fulness  of  the 
Christian  dispensation  to  come  in. 

Christ  has  been  in  his  church  all  these  years,  but 
the  Divine  life  in  its  individual  members  has  not  dominat- 
ed the  human,  imperfect,  life  enough.     That  Divine  life 


126        The  Divine  Life  :     Its  Development  and  Activities 

must  gain  the  ascendency  over  the  human  Hfe,  it  must 
be  supreme.  That  supremacy  may  assert  itself  in  some 
wonderful  outpouring  as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  Then 
there  may  be,  as  in  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  valley  of  dry 
bones,  a  movement,  a  coming  together,  and  finally  flesh 
and  life.  But  the  Church  has  not  been  entirely  like  that 
valley.  It  has  already  accomplished  much,  particularly 
during  the  last  century.  It  has  shown  signs  of  increas- 
ing life,  but  it  has  been  mainly  preparatory  for  still  great- 
er things,  like  the  first  fruits  of  a  still  greater  harvest. 

Christ  is  coming  again  with  power,  but  that  power 
must  be  manifested  through  his  body,  the  Church.  Let 
those  who  entertain  "the  blessed  hope"  of  the  Lord's 
return,  realize  that  they,  themselves,  are  members  of  his 
body,  of  his  flesh  and  of  his  bones.  All  who  have  accepted 
Christ  and  the  new,  the  eternal  life  are  members  of  his 
body,  though  some  of  them  may  be  obscure,  unrecog- 
nized by  the  world  at  large,  and  yet  be  like  the  heart,  the 
lungs,  the  veins  and  arteries  of  the  body,  the  very  source 
of  life  and  strength.  What  a  picture  the  apostle  draws  of 
the  body  of  Christ  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  First  Cor- 
inthians.   A  great  many  members  and  yet  but  one  body. 

But  now,  specifically,  what  is  the  work  that  the 
church  is  to  do?  It  is  to  continue  what  Christ  "Began 
both  to  do  and  to  teach."  But  it  would  be  well  to  remem- 
ber that  he  had  little  to  do  with  external  affairs.  He  re- 
fused to  act  as  "a  judge  or  a  divider"  when  asked  to  use 
his  influence  in  an  apparently  just  cause.  He  healed  the 
sick  as  his  church  is  now  doing  as  shown  by  the  thous- 
ands of  Christian  physicians  and  hospitals  wherever  the 
Church  has  gained  a  foothold.  The  Church,  too,  should 
continue  his  teachings.  But  those  teachings  were  drawn 
from  the  Book  which  he  so  much  reverenced,  the  book 
of  which  the  Psalmist  declares  "Thy  word  is  true  from 
the  beginning." 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities        127 

That  Word,  unemasculated,  unaltered,  supplemented 
by  his  own  words,  directly  as  he  himself  uttered  them  or 
as  uttered  by  those  whom  he  moved  by  his  inspiration  to 
write,  must  be  the  authority  for  all  its  teaching. 

But  all  of  these  things,  all  of  the  activities  of  the 
church  must  be  accessory  to,  subordinated  to  the  supreme 
purpose  that  Christ  came  to  accomplish,  that  purpose  was 
to  impart  eternal  life.  That  life  that  is  eternal  not  simply 
as  to  duration,  but  that  has  the  kind,  the  quality  of  the 
life  of  God.  As  that  was  the  supreme  work  Christ  came 
to  do,  so  must  it  be  the  supreme  work  of  his  body  now. 
And  there  must  be  no  mistake  in  this  regard.  Men  do 
not  naturally  have  the  Divine  life.  If  we  have  it,  it  must 
come  as  the  gift  of  God  through  Christ.  By  receiving 
that  life  is  the  only  way  by  which  men  can  be  brought  into 
harmony  with  the  workings  of  the  universe.  When  the 
world  was  completed  God  pronounced  it  'Very  good."  It 
was  so  made  as  to  work  in  harmony  with  and  for  the 
good  of  man  in  the  condition  of  Adam  after  God  imparted 
to  him  eternal  life  and  before  he  lost  it  by  his  trans- 
gression. The  only  way  now  by  which  the  universe  can 
work  in  harmony  with  men  is  for  men  to  get  into  har- 
mony with  it  and  its  Creator.  Even  now,  with  all  of  the 
chaos  that  sin  has  brought  into  the  world,  God  is  wise 
enough  and  good  enough  and  powerful  enough  so  that 
''All  things  work  together  for  good  for  those  that  love 
God."  But  it  is  desirable  that  all  mankind  place  them- 
selves in  such  an  attitude  that  the  universe  may  be  in  har- 
mony with  them  and  all  be  the  beneficiaries  of  that  work- 
ing. That  was,  I  repeat,  the  supreme  purpose  for  which 
Christ  came  into  the  world.  So  this  must  be  the  supreme 
purpose  of  the  church.  However  much  we  might  wish  it 
otherwise,  the  preaching  today  must  be  still  the  preaching 
of  John  the  Baptist  and  of  Christ,  "Repent  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand."    A  great  deal  is  being  said  in 


128        The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

these  days  about  "The  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Broth- 
erhood of  man."  In  a  kind  of  loose,  conventional  way, 
and  perhaps  the  way  in  which  it  is  meant  to  be  under- 
stood, there  is  much  of  truth  in  it.  But  it  really  indicates 
more  what  should  be  than  what  is.  It  must  not  be  inter- 
preted as  universalism. 

What  is  the  status  of'a  child  of  God"  who  has  never 
been  born  again?  There  can  possibly  be  but  one  answer, he 
is  out  of  the  kingdom  and  must  stay  out  until  he  re- 
ceives from  God  the  life  of  the  kingdom,  the  life  that 
alone  can  inhabit  the  kingdom.  Jesus  said  to  an  amiable 
and  pious  Rabbi,  "ye  must  be  born  again."  It  is  as  true 
now  as  then  and  of  men  now  as  it  was  of  Nicodemus. 
It  is  a  sad  thought,  a  thought  that  we  should  naturally 
wish  not  to  express,  but  the  great  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
has  said  "Many  will  say  to  me  in  that  day  Lord,  Lord, 
have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name,  and  in  thy  name  have 
cast  out  devils  and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful 
works?" 

But  the  terrible  answer  will  be  "I  never  knew  you." 
Many  most  excellent,  large  hearted,  generous  men 
seem  to  be  mistaken  as  to  the  best  way  of  arriving  at  the 
objects  they  wish  to  attain.  They  most  sincerely  wish  to 
benefit,  to  improve  the  external  conditions  of  their  fel- 
low men.  Upon  the  surface  it  would  seem  that  the  way 
by  which  to  secure  that  purpose,  in  their  thought,  is  to 
change  external  conditions.  They  seem  to  think  that  the 
main  work  of  the  church  should  be  along  sociological 
lines.  Within  its  proper  sphere  and  within  certain  limits 
such  work  is  excellent.  It  is  a  part  of  the  work  which  the 
hands  have  to  do.  It  is  all  a  manifestation  of  the  spirit 
of  Christianity,  and  is  prompted  by  that  spirit.  Such 
work  is  never  done  where  Christianity  has  not  penetrat- 
ed. And  we. may  say  as  truly,  that  all  work  that  is  in  any 
way  beneficial  to  mankind,  may  be  the  manifestation  of 


The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities        129 

the  same  spirit.  The  farmer  at  his  plow,  the  clerk  at  his 
desk,  the  banker  among  his  accounts,  the  student  among 
his  books,  the  miner  as  he  throws  out  the  coal,  are  but 
samples  of  all  men  who  may  have  the  consciousness  that 
they  are  doing  their  Lord's  work,  if  it  is  done  with  the 
right  spirit.    All  such  work  is  beneficial,  all  is  necessary. 

So  this  work  for  the  bettering  of  external  conditions 
of  man  has  its  place  but  it  is  not  the  great  work  of  the 
church.  That  kind  of  work  in  the  early  church  was  del- 
egated to  deacons  while  the  apostles  continued  the  main 
work  to  which  they  were  called.  And  even  those  who 
were  set  aside  for  the  humanitarian  part  of  the  work 
were  very  successful  preachers  as  well,  and  the  first  mar- 
tyr was  from  that  class. 

The  great,  the  supreme  work  of  the  church  is  to 
impart  a  kind  of  life  that  has  the  formative  power  of  its 
own  conditions.  But  it  is  too  sadly  true,  that  one  may 
read  volumes  upon  sociology  and  never  see  a  single  hint 
that  Christ  has  a  claim  upon  those  for  whom  the  most  des- 
perate efiforts  are  being  made  to  benefit.  But  when 
masses  accept  the  Divine  life  that  Christ  came  to  im- 
part, they  change  their  conditions  themselves.  Of  course 
they  may  need  help,  but  they  will  have  the  life  principle 
that  will  inevitably  elevate  their  surroundings.  The  same 
is  true  of  foreign  fields.  The  church  has  a  mighty  work 
to  do  among  the  nations  that  have  lately  been  at  war.  The 
spirit  of  Christ  alone  can  bring  about  a  peace  that  shall 
be  permanent  and  just.  But  the  Church  must  not  forget 
the  source,  the  only  source  of  its  power.  The  source  of 
Christ's  power  was  intimacy  with  the  Father.  The  power 
of  Pentecost  came  in  answer  to  the  united  prayers  of  a 
united  Church  for  ten  days.  The  modern  church  can  ac- 
complish its  object,  do  its  work  in  no  other  way  for  that  is 


130        The  Divine  Life:     Its  Development  and  Activities 

the  only  way  by  which  its  power  can  be  obtained.  But 
when  a  united  Church  "Fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the 
sun,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners"  moves  against 
the  powers  of  darkness,  then  will  the  activities  of  the 
Divine  Life  be  in  the  way  of  accomplishing  its  mission. 


Please  Read  and  Place  in  the  Book  **The  Divine  Life' 


SOME    THOUGHTS   CONCERNING   THE 

SECOND  COMING  AND  THE 

RESURRECTION 


Designed  to  Supplement  and  Emphasize  Those  on  That  Sub- 
ject in  the  Writer's  Recent  Book,  The  Divine  Life. 


There  seems  to  be  on  the  part  of  some  an  insuffcient 
conception  of  Jesus,  the  Christ.  He  was  a  Selfexistent,  In- 
finite, Eternal,  Omniscient,  Omnipotent,  OMNIPRESENT 
SPIRIT  before  He  made  the  worlds.  If  He  had  not  been  He 
could  not  have  made  them,  but  "All  things  were  made  by 
Him,  and  without  Him  was  not  anything  made  that  was 
made." 

For  one  definite,  specific  and  infinitely  important  purpose 
He  voluntarily  emptied  Himself  of  His  glory,  humiliated  Him- 
self, condescended  from  His  exalted  position  in  the  heavens 
and  became  "obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the 
cross." 

His  sufferings  upon  the  cross  are  dwelt  upon,  emphasized. 
They  were,  probably,  greater  than  the  aggregate  body  of  the 
whole  human  race  could  have  endured,  but  His  humiliation. 
His  condescension,  His  leaving.  His  glory  that  He  had  in  the 
heavens  and  taking  upon  Himself  the  limitations  of  a  physical 
body  at  all,  occasioned  as  great  suffering,  perhaps,  as  those 
His  body  endured  upon  the  cross. 

He  left  all,  suffered  all,  to  become  man's  Redeemer,  and, 
incidentally,  in  doing  this  He  made  a  revelation  of  His  nature, 
His  true  character  that  showed  Him  to  be  "the  chiefest 
among  ten  thousand  and  the  one  altogether  lovely." 

The  opinion  seems  to  prevail  with  some  that  it  was  His 
lowly  position  among  men  that  was  so  humbling  to  Him. 
But  it  was  His  becoming  man  at  all  that  constituted  His 
humiliation.  His  confining  Himself  to  a  handful  of  matter 
of  which  He  Himself  had  made  worlds,  was  an  infinite  con- 
descension. 


Whether  a  lowly  carpenter,  a  king  or  a  kaiser  would  have 
made  no  difference.  If  I  were  to  be  humiliated  to  the  extent 
of  becoming  a  worm  it  would  make  little  difference  whether 
it  were  a  big  worm  or  a  little  one.  So  with  Christ.  From  the 
infinite  heights  from  which  He  came,  the  little  distinctions 
among  men  were  trivial.  He  accomplished  His  work  as  Re- 
deemer of  mankind.  After  that  work  was  done  there  was  no 
longer  need  for  His  humiliation,  and  He  ascended  up  to 
where  He  was  before  and  AS  He  was  before,  a  Selfexistent, 
Infinite,  Eternal,  Omnipotent,  Omniscient,  Omnipresent  Spirit 
as  God  is. 

Since  then  His  "comings"  have  been  but  the  REVEAL- 
INGS  of  Himself  to  men.  Sometimes  in  one  way,  sometimes 
in  another.  To  Saul  of  Tarsus  He  showed  Himself  as  a  bright 
cloud,  like  the  Sheckinah  in  the  first  temple.  To  John  on  the 
island  of  Patmos  He  appeared  as  "The  Ancient  of  Days." 
But  it  was  Jesus  as  He  declared  "I  am  the  first  and  the  last. 
I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead;  and,  behold,  I  am  alive 
for  evermore.  Amen;  and  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death." 
That  was  Jesus  as  truly  as  the  One  who  in  human  form 
talked  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  but  He  was  without  the 
limitations  of  a  material  body. 

As  per  John  14:2,  3  He  came  to  my  wife.  As  she  was 
soon  to  depart  with  a  heavenly  smile  upon  her  face  she  said 
"I  see  my  dear  Jesus."  He  had  come  for  her  and  the  next 
day  she  fell  into  His  arms  speaking  of  "the  sweet  sense  of 
forgiveness."  And  not  only  does  He  come  in  accordance 
with  that  promise  but  also  in  accordance  with  the  one  He 
makes  through  Paul,  I  Thess.  4:14,  He  brought  others  with 
Him,  the  spirits  of  some  who  had  gone  before,  for  as  a  sister 
of  mine  was  about  to  pass  over  the  river  she  exclaimed  "There 
is  Jesus,  He  beckons  to  me  with  His  hand"  and  farther  she 
says  "There  are  Viola  and  Alice.  Alice  has  a  crown  for  me." 
Jesus,  in  accordance  with  the  promise,  had  brought  two  of 
her  little  sisters  who  had  just  preceded  her  to  the  better  land. 
I  might  mention  also  the  case  of  a  cousin  who  for  years  had 
been  a  great  sufferer  from  cancer  and  was  soon  to  be  released, 
and  who  saw  her  father  and  mother  and  a  young  brother 
who  had  preceded  her.  Such  "comings"  may  not  be  mater- 
ialistic and  spectacular  enough  to  suit  some  of  our  most  ex- 
cellent Christian  friends  but  they  are  eminently  satisfactory 
to  those  for  whom  He  comes. 

I  understand  that  such  experiences  have  been  very  com- 
mon among  converts  from  heathenism  as  evidences  of  the 


saving  power  of  their  newly  found  Savior.  In  Christian  lands 
they  may  be  common  enough  to  encourage  faith,  but  not  com- 
mon enough  to  abridge  the  free  agency  of  men  in  belief  or 
unbelief. 

But  now  we  come  to  consider  the  one  particular  mani- 
festation of  Himself  that  is  so  much  spoken  of  in  these  days 
as  The  Second  Coming  of  Christ. 

There  may  be  some  minor  prophecies  that  may  or  may 
not  be  considered  as  referring  to  that  event.  Some  of  them 
may  have  been  fulfilled  and  no  human  historian  has  recorded 
the  fulfilment  or  they  may  have  been  recorded  and  we  may 
not  have  seen  the  records.  Many  events  in  the  world's  his- 
tory have  transpired  of  which  we  are  ignorant.  But  the 
great,  CONCLUSIVE  declarations  upon  this  subject  were 
made  by  Christ  Himself.  These  are  recorded,  mainly,  in 
three  of  the  gospels. 

The  disciples  had  been  showing  Jesus  the  wonders  of 
the  temple  when  He  fortold  their  utter  destruction.  The  dis- 
ciples inquired  when  that  destruction  should  occur,  and  when 
He,  Himself,  should  come  to  accomplish  that  destruction  and 
make  an  end  of  that  lONOS,  age  or  dispensation,  referring 
to  the  Jewish  dispensation  and  to  usher  in  the  fulness  of  His 
own  kingdom,  upon  its  ruins  or  rather  in  its  place.  His  reply 
contains  many  specifications,  but  one  is  remarkable.  It  is 
His  declaration  that  no  man,  not  even  Himself,  knew  the  day 
or  the  hour  of  His  coming.  That  shows  that  in  His  volun- 
tary humiliation  He  had  voluntarily  placed  some  limitation 
upon  His  ov^nn  Omniscience.  We  may  safely  say  that  He  will 
never  do  that  again.  But  He  DID  know,  and  most  solemnly 
affirmed,  with  a  positiveness  that  could  not  be  resisted,  that 
it  would  be  within  the  lifetime  of  many  then  living.  The 
word  "generation,"  as  He  uses  it,  does  not  mean  "race";  the 
Jewish  race  was  never  to  pass  away,  but  the  aggregate  of 
people  then  living.  It  was  a  generation  in  this  sense  that  He 
asserts  "Verily  I  say  unto  you.  This  generation  shall  not 
pass  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled.  Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away." 

Without  entering  into  an  exhaustive  consideration  of  the 
"words"  here  spoken  of,  we  may  note  some  that  are  conclusive. 
The  disciples  asked  "what  shall  be  the  sign  of  Thy  coming?" 
and  so  on.  The  gospel  was  to  be  preached  in  all  the  world. 
It  had  been  according  to  church  history.  The  inhabited 
world  was  not  as  large  then  as  it  is  now.  Jerusalem  was 
to  be  encompassed  with  armies.     It  surely  was  in  A.  D.  70. 

3 


He  was  to  come  "with  a  shout,"  or  rather  as  another  version 
reads  with  or  amid  "shoutings"  and  there  certainly  were 
shoutings  by  the  Roman  armies  and  by  the  beseiged.  There 
was  to  be  "great  tribulation."  One  is  amazed  to  see  a  state- 
ment that  such  had  not  taken  place.  No  intelligent,  thought- 
ful student  of  history  but  must  stand  appalled  at  the  inde- 
scribable horrors  of  that  "tribulation"  when  Jerusalem  was 
thus  surrounded  by  armies  and  one  million,  three  hundred 
thousand  of  its  inhabitants  perished  amid  horrors  that  are 
hardly  conceivable.  It  was  a  "tribulation"  such  as  had  never 
been  known  before  and  can  never  be  repeated  until  the  earth 
itself  "shall  be  burned  up".  That  was  to  be  one  of  "the  signs 
of  His  coming".  It  was  indeed  "the  great  and  terrible  day 
of  the  Lord". 

In  the  temple  miraculous  events  transpired.  Above  the 
city  were  miraculous  portents.  A  star  stood  over  Bethle- 
hem to  indicate  that  the  Savior  was  cradled  there.  Later,  in 
the  year  A.  D.  70  another  star  stood  over  Jerusalem  and  a 
sword  in  the  heavens  indicated  that  Jesus  was  in  the  city,  but 
as  the  judge  of  a  recreant  people.  But  one  of  the  most  signif- 
icant prophecies  or  signs  that  Christ  said  should  be  was  "as 
the  lightning  cometh  out  of  the  east  and  shineth  even  unto 
the  west:  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be". 
He  was  to  come  as  the  Shekinah  cloud  and  that  appeared  in 
the  temple  just  before  its  destruction.  It  was  the  same  cloud 
out  of  which  once  came  a  voice  to  Saul  of  Tarsus,  "I  am 
Jesus  whom  thou  persecutest". 

The  great,  radical  mistake  in  this  matter  is  to  suppose 
that  He  cannot  apear  or  "come"  except  in  a  physical,  material 
body.  But  Paul  declares  very  positively  that  this  will  never 
be. 

Jesus  is  now  what  and  where  He  has  been  from  eternity, 
a  Selfexistent,  Eternal,  Infinite,  Omnipotent,  Omniscient,  Om- 
nipresent SPIRIT,  the  Spirit  of  God.  He  "comes",  or  reveals 
Himself,  whenever  He  pleases,  to  whom  He  pleases  and  as 
He  pleases.  But  it  is  seldom  in  accordance  with  the  previous 
conceptions  of  men.  It  is  better.  The  Jews  refuse  to  accept 
Christ  as  the  Messiah  because  He  did  not  come  with  power 
and  great  glory.  Now  because  He  did  come,  in  a  particular 
case  in  the  glory  of  the  Father  and  the  holy  angels,  and  be- 
cause they  have  not  physical,  material  bodies,  many  will  not 
believe  that  He  kept  His  word. 

It  is  said  that  His  coming  will  be  premillenial.  Be  it  so, 
and  it  probably  was  so.     The  millenium  may  have  been  the 


first  thousand  years  of  the  Christian  era.  Christ's  kingdom, 
at  least,  was  fully  ushered  in  when  the  Jewish  dispensation 
ended  with  the  destruction  of  their  city  and  temple. 

I  have  written  these  few  words  to  supplement  to  some 
extent  what  I  have  written  on  this  subject  in  my  book,  "The 
Divine  Life",  and  to  show  as  conclusively  as  possible  that 
Jesus  knew  what  He  was  talking  about  and  that  He  kept  His 
promise  to  come  in  the  then  present  generation,  within  the 
lifetime  of  many  that  were  then  living. 

With  regard  to  the  resurrection  I  need  add  but  few  words. 
To  those  who  believe  that  the  matter  that  once  entered  into 
the  bodies  of  Adam  and  Eve,  Cain  and  Abel  and  all  others 
of  the  billions  who  have  lived  and  passed  away  is  to  be  col- 
lected together  into  their  former  shape  and  be  reoccupied  by 
their  former  tenants  I  have  nothing  to  say  farther  than  that 
Paul  contradicts  the  idea  with  as  much  force  as  can  be  put 
into  words  and  Jesus  says  that  in  the  resurrection  they  are 
as  the  angels  who  have  no  physical  bodies.  They  lived  ages 
before  matter  or  the  material  worlds  were  made.  We,  if  the 
God-life  principle  has  been  united  to  our  human  life  principle, 
shall  live  when  the  world  and  all  that  is  in  it  shall  have  re- 
turned to  nothingness.  All  of  the  rolling  worlds  and  blazing 
suns  of  this  universe  are  but  a  brief  incident  in  the  life  of 
God  and  of  His  Christ.  Much  might  be  said  along  these 
lines  but  I  believe  that  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that 
there  is  a  solid,  scriptural  foundation  for  our  inevitable,  in- 
stinctive belief  that  our  loved  ones  who  have  died  in  Christ 
are  with  Him,  where  He  is  and  not  in  Sheol  waiting  for  His 
second  incarnation.  v 

ALBERT  L.  GRIDLEY 
Campbell,  N.  Y. 
August,  1921. 


